Pokémon FanFic Volume 1 - Into the Real World
by Boeing73FLY
Summary: Two Pokémon have been mysteriously taken into the real world. It is up to Simon (me) to figure out how this happened and find a way to deliver them back to the Kalos region...or are they destined to be in this world forever?
1. A Birthday Wish Granted

**Pokémon FanFic Volume 1: Into the Real World**

NOTES TO THE READER

\- Thoughts are within (parentheses).

\- Speech that cannot be comprehended by humans are within [brackets].

\- Speech that is spoken using telepathy are _italicized_.

\- This is my first ever fan fiction. English is usually my worst subject in my education, but surprisingly I found a little passion for writing. I apologize in advance for my lack of vocabulary as well as any discrepancies I may have in this writing. With that being said, I want readers to review my writing fairly as much as possible.

 **Chapter 1: A Birthday Wish Granted**

Simon's Home  
Las Vegas, NV, United States  
Saturday, 4 January 2020 22:50

"Thank you Lord for a wonderful birthday!" I reflected out loud as I turned off my music player in my Jaguar SUV and pulled into the garage. It was hard to believe that I am already 23 years old. It seemed like it was my 21st birthday. I strongly agreed to the saying that time flies when you're having fun.

Still full from my delicious birthday dinner, I slowly climbed up the stairs and entered my bedroom. It was scattered with clothes and cardboard boxes neatly stacked in a grid-like pattern. I emptied my pockets and put my smartphone, wallet, and keys onto my table which stood in the corner opposite of the doorway. I leaned down and to the side to reach for the power button of my desktop computer which was in sleep mode. Then I turned to my left where the bed was and lied down onto it, breathing in before plunging my face into the pillow and exhaling afterward.

"Man, I am sooooo tired!" I muttered, with my entire face still on the pillow. I stayed in my current and comfortable position for quite a while until realizing that I still had to take a shower. Before that, however, I leaned over to reach for my Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming device with the Pokémon X game card already inserted. I booted up the game and began looking at the current status of my Pokémon team. I had already moved all of my Pokémon into one big storage device in the game except for four creatures. The first two in my team were the ones that have impacted my gameplay the most: Greninja and Lucario. Both have the same level of 86 (out of the maximum 100 levels) in the game.

Greninja is a Water- and Dark-type Ninja Pokémon, bipedal, and closely resembles a frog. He has dark blue body and legs with large bubbles on its legs and arms. The area from his nose to his ears (which appear to be shaped like blades) is cream-colored on the outside while the top of his head and the inside of his ears are dark blue with a light blue color accent between his ears. His physical traits include a very long pink tongue which curls around his neck like a scarf and extends away from his back, webbed feet and hands, two toes on his feet, and three fingers on his hands. He is my first Pokémon to start out with in the entire game franchise. He is pretty well-balanced in terms of his battle strengths and weaknesses. His movement speed stood out above the rest of his stats, and he can move super quick that he can simply disappear from human sight. He is always going to be my number one in my team because of his exceptional performance, not to mention that he has a hardy nature which increases my hopes during battle. His moveset is Cut, Water Shuriken (signature move), Aerial Ace, and Dark Pulse.

Lucario is a Fighting- and Steel-type Aura Pokémon, bipedal, and looks similar to a jackal. He is covered in blue fur all around his body with a cream-colored torso, has black paws, legs, and feet, and out the back of his head hung four small black appendages. He features three spikes, two of which protruded on the back of his paws and one on the chest. Lucario came into my team about midway through the game campaign and proved himself to be a real, worthy fighter. He has the ability to sense auras which indicate feelings of animals and other Pokémon; it allows him to read thoughts as well. He is slower than Greninja, but more powerful in his offenses and defenses. Although the battle performance shines bright within, one problem I have with him is that his behavior is hasty. Lucario is, however, still loyal towards me and will do whatever I want him to do in the game. I think both he and Greninja make perfect teammates for each other. His moveset is Bone Rush, Aura Sphere, Power-Up Punch, and Flash Cannon.

In the Pokémon game, I fired up the Pokémon-Amie feature. I petted both Greninja and Lucario on their favorite spots. Greninja enjoys being rubbed on its tongue around its neck, which sounds disgusting enough, and Lucario likes to be rubbed on his ears as well as the top of his head.

"Man," I sighed deeply, "I wish you two were here with me right now...like...for real. Living in this house can get pretty lonely sometimes, even though I have video games and online communities to keep me company."

It was not too long ago that my parents decided to buy their own condo to give the entire house to me. They told me that I have the freedom to do whatever to the house as long as I have the money to pay. My mother suggested that I do not throw parties, but I silently disagreed to that one. My father didn't care since he used to invite his buddies who played guitars and sang the nights away. Although I thought about throwing a party once for a friend of mine, I couldn't because, most of the time, the parties wanted to be held at gated neighborhoods for safety reasons.

I have been working ever since I graduated college with an Aerospace Engineering major in May of last year. I work as an aircraft mechanic at North Las Vegas Airport, repairing and refurbishing small piston-engine planes as well as private jets. I was always happy to see such a large amount of money in one paycheck every week. I knew that one day I will be able to fly a plane and, hopefully, buy myself one, because the possibility of flight will never be endless if I knew how to fix and fly a plane.

After feeding tasty treats to and playing with my Pokémon for a while, I got up and put the 3DS onto the table. Failing to realize that I left the game running, I gathered my sleeping clothes and proceeded to the bathroom next door to take a shower. Then, the extraordinary happens.

The 3DS began to glow in light blue on both the top and bottom screens. This gradually intensified in a matter of seconds until both screens became so bright that it lit my entire room up more than my ceiling fan's lamp could emit. A few more seconds later, two small spheres of light, two inches in diameter, exitted the device and landed onto my table where all of my junk was. The bright lights gradually dimmed from both spheres until they were red, white, and black in appearance. One half of the spheres is red on top while the other half is white on the bottom with a black line separating the two colors. Somewhere along the black line is a circle which serves a purpose: to catch and store creatures. These two spheres were Poké Balls which have made it into the real world for some mysterious reason.

After my shower and getting dressed in sleepwear, I returned to my room and noticed that my Pokémon game was still running on my 3DS, but I was still oblivious to the Poké Balls physically resting on top of my junk behind the racing wheel which was attached directly in the middle of my desk. I powered off my 3DS and returned it to the charging station next to my bed across the room. After returning to my desktop computer to start my chillstep music for sleeping, I checked my smartphone for any missed calls, new messages, and social media updates before turning off my lamp and finally crashing out in my bed for the night.

Saturday, 4 January 2020 23:50

I was now in deep sleep. However, someone else was in the room about to wake up from a good rest. Suddenly, one of the Poké Balls on my table expanded to a full six-inch diameter. After a few seconds, it opened and ejected a light blue stream of light. The light rapidly made its way onto the floor next to my bed. At that point, the stream quickly took shape from the ground up into a figure, appearing to be sitting parallel to the bed with two bent legs sticking out. His left leg had the knee facing to the side while the right was facing upward. His right arm was bent with the paw resting on top of its knee. His head was pointed towards the floor with his ears sticking up and four appendages coming out of the back. The light slowly started to dim around the figure until it appeared to be a blue jackal sleeping in a sitting position. This is Lucario, and he is the first Pokémon to ever arrive on Planet Earth in physical form.

Once the transformation was complete, Lucario immediately woke up. After opening his eyes, seeing a partially dark room, and hearing music playing from the computer which sounded absolutely foreign to him, he immediately realized that he was not where he was supposed to be.

"(What the...where in the name of Arceus am I?)" he mentally reacted. He got up on his feet and took a short moment to observe his surroundings. The harmonic sounds of the bass drum, snare drum, and piano coming from the chillstep music soothed him slightly. Then he looked to the left to find me sleeping soundly. Lucario stared at my face and tried to see if I was his trainer. He could barely see my goatee and mustache in the dark. "(There is no way that my trainer could look like this...)" he growled in a quiet matter.

Lucario really wanted to investigate me further. He was careful enough to not wake me from my beauty sleep. Being the Aura Pokémon that can sense people and their feelings, he started to glow in blue light all around himself with his red eyes turning bright yellow. The four appendages on the back of his head lifted. In his vision, my entire body became outlined in blue which indicates that I posed no threat to him. Lucario then proceeded to read my mind. "(Interesting,)" he thought. "(He really is knocked out to sleep; I cannot get much out of this guy other than himself cuddling with a creature, much bigger than he is. It looks like a Donphan, but without a thick hide.)" The creature that Lucario was referring to compares to a real-life Asian elephant. It was true that I wanted to see an elephant up close and personal one day. My life wouldn't be complete if I didn't go to Thailand to volunteer in elephant programs that take care of captive elephants which most of them lived an abusive life in the past.

"Hmph!" Lucario grunted, looking to the right. He noticed the open door and saw light coming from the master bedroom at the end of the hallway. Before moving beyond the doorway, he scanned for other living humans around my house. No other auras were detected. He walked into the hallway and noticed a spacious common room downstairs. Then he entered the master bedroom, still cautious of possible life forms. But no one was in the house except for me...and the Pokémon...so far. He looked around the room in shock and wondered, "(How can one person live in a large house like this one?)" His trainer's abode was definitely smaller than the one he is exploring.

Finding nothing in the room that intrigued Lucario, he made his way back to the stairway. Carefully, he descended halfway down the stairs to look out the windows. "(Of course, it doesn't look like I am in Anistar City.)" All he could see outside were other houses across the street as well as an illuminated streetlamp that shone on a parked car. Lucario then proceeded to the first floor of my house and walked over to the living room which also has a lamp activated in the far corner. There, he observed the area, taking a seat on the couch behind the glass table placed in the middle of the room.

Feeling a little comfortable, he attempts to sense other auras, but this time at a much bigger radius. The Aura Pokémon is capable of detecting life in a radius of one kilometer. Just as he was about to start detecting, Lucario heard a speeding motorcyclist roaring by on the main road parallel to the residential street. Immediately, he began to investigate him. "(He really likes to ride that thing)," Lucario thought, "(But judging by his actions, I think he is asking for a death wish.)" Then he sensed other motorists, finding all of them to be unimportant. To his surprise, he was unable to detect one single Pokémon lifeform in this world.

"(This area is A LOT different than where I came from,)" Lucario pondered. "(It is strange. Where are all of the Pokémon here? When the morning comes, I will try to ask the human. From what I saw in him, he seems to be friendly. But if I do find out that he kidnapped me, he _will_ pay me with _pain_.)" He pushed himself up from the couch and made his way back upstairs to my bedroom.

Lucario sat down next to my bed and closed his eyes. He feels slightly anxious about how tomorrow is going to turn out, but he remained calm nonetheless. The chillstep music soothed him through the night. The clock struck midnight, and life is about to become more interesting with a Pokémon in the real world.


	2. Am I Dreaming?

**Chapter 2: Am I Dreamin'?**

Simon's Home  
Las Vegas, NV, United States  
Sunday, 5 January 2020 07:30

The alarm rang on my smartphone. I woke up and turned around to reach for it on my desk and turned off the alarm. Taking a deep breath, I got off of my bed and sat on my desk chair behind the desktop, pausing for a minute. The chillstep music was still playing. After the current song finished, I stopped the music player and went onto my internet browser to check for any new notifications from my social media, Facebook and Twitter; I did the same on my phone as well for Instagram and Snapchat.

As I set my phone down on the desk in front of my racing wheel, I immediately saw the two Poké Balls which made their way into this world overnight. "What the f***?" I said out loud. One Pokéball was expanded while the other one was still in it's form for handling. Then I reached for the expanded red and white sphere and put my right hand on top of it. I felt for the first time how it feels to touch these devices. It felt like I was touching real metal. I paused. "Gasp! Oh...my...God!" I then reacted. "Am I dreamin' right now?" I picked up the device, and I became surprised at how much weight there was; it wasn't too heavy at all!

This whole time, Lucario was leaning against the wall perpendicular to the bedroom doorway, poking his head through the doorway to watch my reactions and monitor my aura. "(Shocked. Huh. And did he just say a forbidden word?)" He was unsure about whether or not he should show himself to me at this particular moment. Rolling his red eyes, he thought, "(Ugh...I know this is not going to turn out well for the both of us. I don't want to make him feel like I'm going to attack him. That is not what I was born to do. I knew that without my trainer telling me.)"

"I bet my parents are here without letting me kno..." Turning around while holding Lucario's Poké Ball, I froze. Right before my eyes was him, standing just as tall as I am at about 5'4" from ears to toes. He was literally 5 feet away from where I stood. Seeing his straight face, I thought he was preparing to kill me.

Lucario opened his mouth slightly, showing only his two sets of fangs on the top and bottom while keeping the rest of his teeth hidden. Then he spoke slowly, "I do not wish to harm you. Please, do not feel intimidated!"

Right after hearing Lucario speak in human language, chills ran through my body uncontrollibly. I knew from an online Pokémon database that Lucario can comprehend human speech, but most of the time they do not speak it. Some could communicate with other people through telepathy. Who knows, this one might be able to communicate that way too. But the words that this Lucario spoke made me feel a little at ease. Looking at him did make me feel intimidated, however. His appearance already rendered him dangerous due to the metal spikes poking out from his chest and behind his paws.

"Y-Y-You're a Pokémon...r-right?" I questioned.

"Yes," Lucario replied after a short pause. "I am Lucario. Look, I am confused; I know you are too. I just want to know where I am."

"(Oh, Lord! I cannot believe this is happening)...You're in...L-L-Las Vegas."

"Las Vegas? Is this the Kalos region?"

I was still trying to control my own tremble. I slowly put Lucario's Poké Ball on my bed. "Uh n-no. This isn't Kalos. You...you're in my room in my house...in Las Vegas, Nevada."

Lucario looked down in disbelief.

Then I said, "I...I hate to say it in front of y-"

"NO!" Lucario barked loudly. I jumped and inhaled deeply in response to his loud mouth. My hands turned into fists, and I lifted them towards my chest.

"OKAY OKAY PLEASE DON'T HURT ME, YOU'RE IN A DIFFERENT WORLD! THIS IS AMERICA. I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU GOT HERE, AND I'VE NEVER SEEN ANY POK _ÉMON AROUND HERE_ ; I REALLY DON'T! PLEASE!" I desparately shouted, fearing for my life. I knew this Lucario is hasty exactly like the one in my game.

Lucario realized what he had done. Sensing the sharp spike of fear in me, he reached out with both of his paws towards me and said, "I'm so sorry! Please, do not be scared. I reacted wrongly to you. I meant to say that you can be honest about this. Forgive me! Forgive me for acting too quickly!"

I froze. My heart was beating at a very high rate. I could not move any part of my body.

"Please, human! I will do anything for you to remedy my wrong reaction." Lucario stared at me with his eyes dialated and his ears pointed slightly downward.

I stayed frozen for half of a minute. Tears started to stream down my face. Then I put my hands on my head, slammed onto my bed face down on the pillow, and began crying.

Lucario sensed the sad and frightened feelings I was emitting. He really wanted to comfort me, and he attempted to do so. "Human..." He paused for a bit, remembering to handle the situation carefully. "I only want to talk to you. I do not want to ask for anything from you. I do not see anyone around the house but you. I have no intention of hurting you or anybody you know." He slowly put his paw on the left side of my back. I cried more once I felt it. "Please understand! I may have come from a different world, a world full of Pokémon. But when I come to a place that I do not know, I want to explore it. And I want to explore this world and find out about how things work around here." Then my crying started dying down as I heard his assuring words and felt his paw rubbing my back in a circular motion at the same time. Flashbacks of my dad giving me a back massage came to me. "There are other Lucario from my world that I have met, but I am different from everyone else. I am one that not only fights other Pokémon under my trainer, but also try to have fun with others. Being the Aura Pokémon that I am, I want to make Pokémon, and humans too, happy." He paused for a moment to hear my crying turn into sniffles. He put his other paw on my back. "You can talk to me, ask me anything. ... You may not know or believe how I got here, but if you manage to figure it out, I want to know too, and I will go back." After a few minutes, my sniffles disappeared. Lucario observed the negative vibes disappearing in me.

I never expected a Lucario to be super friendly like this one. My fears began to turn into happiness. I was still in disbelief that a Pokémon is standing on planet Earth at this very moment. But once I heard his last sentence, I was stunned. I didn't want him to go back to his home world.

Feeling much better now, I lifted my head and looked at Lucario, making eye contact with each other. "Th-thank you...Lucario. I...I-I feel much better now. I...I never thought a Lucario like you would do...that...t-to me!" I grinned afterward.

Lucario showed a slight smile. "You are very welcome, human." He lifted his paws away from my back and set them down to his sides, recognizing that a hint of sadness still remained in my aura. "What is your name?"

"Simon." I answered.

Lucario raised his eyelids. "Simon? My trainer's name is that too!" This brought flashbacks of his trainer for a brief moment.

"Really? That's awesome!" I smiled more. He made a friendly growl and made a bigger smile in return.

It seemed weird to be doing our introductions because I always played my avatar in the game as myself practically, but I felt that I shouldn't give away my title as his trainer right away. This Lucario definitely matched with the game's description of him. The only difference would be his height and his ability to talk which surprised me the most. The game claims he was 3'11".

I lifted myself to a sitting position on the side of my bed and took a deep breath. "I forgive you for your reaction as I was trying to say something, and...I'm sorry I acted badly while you were trying to calm me down."

"I forgive you too. I can be a bit unpredictable sometimes, I will admit," Lucario said.

"I just didn't want to hurt your feelings. I was going to say...well, I think I had already said it when I was freaking out." I also wanted to mention that he came from a video game, but I refrained from saying so.

"Do not worry, hum...I mean, uh, Simon." I gave him a slight grin in response.

"Is it possible that I...may be like your trainer?" I asked.

Lucario took a few seconds to look back through his memory. Then he said, "My trainer is more fearless than you seem to be, to be honest. In fact, he saved the entire Kalos region in my world."

"Oh..." I didn't expect him to make that comparison. I used to play my avatar in the game as if I was there. I bowed my head down to think about a topic to converse.

"Simon," Lucario said suddenly. I looked up and lifted one of my eyebrows slightly in response. "So...Las Verrruhuhhrrrr..."

"Las Vegas," I corrected him.

"Ah, right. Las Vegas. What is this place like?"

"Well, Las Vegas is a big city...uh...it's a big city under a province, which is under a country." I thought carefully how to explain it to him since he is basically...an alien on this planet.

Lucario growled quietly as he tried to comprehend.

"Uh...heh," I reacted. "It's weird when you think about it. You see, a city like Las Vegas is inside the boundaries of a territory. That territory is called a state. Then you have the state which is part of one huge region. We are standing on a region called the United States of America. The region is controlled by a...body of people which have power over the country, called a government. And this territory is called Nevada, also controlled by another group under the government. It is one of 50 other territories."

Lucario shook his head. "All I know is that I am supposed to be in Anastar City in the Kalos region with my trainer. I think we were supposed to do some more training with another Pokémon in our team." I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Oh... I'm sure he must be worried about you. (Oh, this cannot continue for long!)"

"Of course! I am extremely loyal to him. I would never abandon him for someone else." Lucario gave me an intimidating look again.

"Oh...I can tell." I reacted, looking at his entire appearance. I had already been used to the intimidation.

"Well, I just hope I can return to him as soon as possible. He becomes worried if I am separated from him for a while, even though he lets me out of that Poké Ball from time to time. He trusts and believes in me for everything that I do."

"I hope so too," I responded.

At this point, I was already past due for getting ready to go to church. My parents were expecting me to meet them at their apartment at 08:15. I looked at the clock on the top section of my desk which read 08:00. "Oh my God!"

Lucario looked in the same direction. "Huh? What is it?"

"I just realized I have to meet with my parents in 15 minutes, and it's a 20-minute drive away."

Lucario looked back at me. "Oh, well I must not keep you waiting."

"Yes, you should not. My parents are the most important people in my life. We are going to a gathering today. It's Sunday."

"Oh, I know how important parents are." Lucario took some time to think about what to do. Then he suggested, "I will stay here and make sure this house is safe, how does that sound to you?"

"Oh perfect! You can be my 'guard dog' while I'm away," I said without thinking. Lucario felt a little offended when I called him that. But he shrugged it off and nodded. "Okay, well. I want to tell you a very important thing really quick. And I mean it's VERY IMPORTANT! Think of it as your first order, will you accept?"

"I accept with honesty and loyalty! (I can't believe I just said that even when he's not my real trainer.)"

"Lucario, you are awesome! I will give you that compliment." I tapped him on his right shoulder.

"Uh, thank you!" Lucario said in surprise. "(Okay, that definitely sounded like what my trainer would say!)"

"Alright. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT leave my house until I come back. This house has an alarm system, and whenever you open a door that serves as an entrance to the house, the alarm will sound. Once that happens, the police force will make their way here to investigate what caused the alarm. I will explain all of this to you later. Understood?"

"Understood!" Lucario firmly responded.

"Alright, I will get dressed first, then I will be leaving." I gathered my clothes and made my way to the bathroom next door to change. Then I went back into my room and gathered the car keys, my smartphone, and my wallet. "Okay, goodbye for now, Lucario!"

"Be safe!" Lucario waved and smiled.

"Of course, thanks!" I smiled and waved back. Then I proceeded downstairs to the garage, armed the house alarm, and left leaving Lucario in the house...alone. I began to feel nervous as I climbed into my Jaguar SUV. "Oh f***, this might be bad. Leaving a Pokémon who doesn't know anything about this world...what if he does leave my house and sets off the alarm?"

I forgot about the fact that Lucario can read minds, and he has been reading my thoughts the entire time as I walked through the garage door. "(He's still paranoid of me leaving the house. I will have to prove myself to him that I am trustworthy. Hopefully I will not be stuck in this world for too long. I must figure out how to get back to Kalos.)"


	3. Guard Jackal and Frog

**Chapter 3: Guard Jackal...and Frog**

Simon's Home  
Las Vegas, NV, United States  
Sunday, 5 January 2020 08:30

Lucario sat down on my rolling chair behind my desk and leaned back, resting his arms on the armrests. Feeling comfortable, he noticed the placards and trophies on the top tier of my desk. "(Hmm, he must be a smart one,)" Lucario thought. Then he looked down at all of my gaming devices in front of him, starting with the racing wheel. He put his paw on it and rotated it left and right repeatedly. "(I've seen these in those people carriers, but this one is obviously out of place." Next, Lucario looked at the joystick to the right of the wheel's H-shifter. He noticed that these devices had something in common: many buttons. "(This is...complicated. What does he use these things for?)"

Lucario sighed and closed his eyes, remaining in his comfortable position. He wanted to meditate for a little bit. He remembered many memories that he made with my avatar in the Pokémon game. Then he wondered if he will make more in this world. Despite his desparateness to return, Lucario still wanted to explore this world. He took more deep breaths, with each one occurring after each longer pause.

After a brief period, a noise suddenly came from on top of my desk in front of the wheel. Lucario opened his eyes and leaned forward towards the desk. There was the second unopened Poké Ball that had expanded into a bigger-sized sphere. "(Another Pokémon!)" Lucario mentally reacted surprised. He took the ball into his paws and looked at it. Then he turned around, stood up, and pointed its front towards the doorway. "Come on out!" he commanded.

The Poké Ball suddenly opened, and out came a bright blue stream of light. That light began to concentrate to form a bipedal figure. This figure's skeletal structure is similar to a human's. There was a large ring that circled around its neck, and its ankles were pointed. There were two toes on its feet and three fingers on its hands. The head was shaped like a frog, and the top of its head had two blades sticking upward which appeared to be its ears. From top to bottom, this Pokémon stood 6 feet tall. The light dimmed until a full appearance was made.

"Greninja!" the figure said. Then he looked around feeling out of place and saw Lucario, "Errrr...gren gren?" From the human perspective, Greninja can only be heard speaking syllables from his name, but any other Pokémon such as Lucario can understand his language completely.

"So you're here too!?" Lucario asked in shock.

"[Apparently!]" Greninja croaked, "[What is going on? I thought we were supposed to be with Simon outside of Anistar City]?"

"True. But something must have happened without us knowing. We both ended up here...unexpectedly. I don't know how though. I made contact with a human and asked him some questions. He doesn't know what happened either. What is even more strange is that his name is Simon, just like our trainer. I'm going to try to figure all of this out...well, not just me but you too."

"[Uhh, okay. So what exactly is this place? It appears we are in...his room? And you know how bad it is to enter someone's room without their permission.]"

"Actually, this human allowed me to stay here. We did not talk much because he had to go meet his parents for some kind of gathering."

"[Well, that is nice of him.]" Greninja rubbed his left ear. "[So what are you doing here?]"

"Long story short, I suggested that during his absence I will protect this entire house. I want him to feel that he can trust me, or rather us now that you were brought along. He has never been up close with Pokémon before, and there is not a single one here either. We are in a different world for Arceus' sake!"

"[Damn.]" Greninja sat on my bed. "[Does that mean our powers have changed because we're here?]"

"Well, we have yet to find out with a battle. I think Simon wants us to stick around because if any of us goes out there, and if another human spots us, we may be in trouble. Also, this house is protected by some sort of security system, so that means we will be safe from intruders unless they really want to break in. Remember, we are foreign in this world, and other humans may have not seen an actual Pokémon either."

Greninja took a deep breath. "[Now that you mentioned that this guy's name is Simon, I'm starting to confuse myself with the Simon that we know.]"

"He does look different from our Simon, and he thinks differently too. He has some similarities in his speech though."

"[Will I get to meet him?]"

"Eventually. At this moment, he is unaware that you are here now. I will have to introduce him to you myself. Take it slow because after I read his aura, he still has a hard time believing that Pokémon exist."

"[Okay, you're my leader for now, partner.]" Greninja lied down on the bed and made himself feel comfortable. Lucario sat back down on my rolling chair. Both Pokémon were silent for a while.

Sunday, 5 January 2020 09:00

"Hey, Greninja," Lucario caught his attention.

"[Yes, Lucario?]" he replied.

"Can you look out of that window and try to see what the area looks like? I have never seen it yet."

"[Let's see!]" Greninja lifted himself up and proceeded to the window with Lucario following behind him. Then Greninja moved the blinds and saw the backyard as well as other houses in view. To the left and right of the view were tall palm trees, and barren mountains sprinkled with snow were visible in the background. The skies were clear today. "[I think we're in a dry and mountainous region. Definitely not Kalos, that's for sure.]" Greninja said.

"Huh?" Lucario barked. Greninja moved to the side to allow him to see the surroundings. "These trees do look like they are not native."

"[Maybe they're fake trees,]" Greninja responded. "[But there must be a source of water somewhere, and it seems that it has rained here recently.]"

Lucario made a slight growl. "I seriously hope we have the chance to explore the land outside."

[I think we will eventually. For now, we have to guard this house. Patience is important.]"

"You are right. I am getting ahead of myself again."

Sunday, 5 January 2020 11:00

For the past two hours, the two Pokémon have been doing nothing but sitting or standing around the house, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity that may occur outside. Lucario has been doing pretty much all of the work due to his aura reading ability, while Greninja decided to go to the master bedroom and take a siesta on the most comfortable bed in the house.

Suddenly, a small dog barked from the house next to mine. Lucario picked up the sound easily thanks to his great sense of hearing. Curious about the four-legged mammal, he started to read its aura. "(Is that a Pokémon?)" Lucario thought. Its aura indicated a sense of excitement as its owner came back from shopping for groceries. He petted it, and the dog became even more excited. Then it sat and received a dog treat as a reward. "(Interesting creature. I want to know more about it.)" Lucario stopped reading the dog's aura and made his way into the master bedroom where Greninja was.

Greninja open his eyes and said, "[So, what's up?]"

"I just picked up other life in another house next to this one," Lucario replied. "This particular creature is not a human, nor do I think is a Pokémon. It has four legs and a tail, small in size. It seems that its human is its trainer, but not the kind of trainer that we both are used to. Also, it cannot speak human language, but it uses body language to communicate."

Greninja lifted himself up, crossing his legs and said, "[So from what I understand, this creature does not fight anyone. It can only speak its own language, and it lives with its human that trains him to do tricks and receive treats as rewards.]"

"Precisely," Lucario affirmed. "This world is something else. I mean, from what I had observed all morning, everyone likes to eat, socialize, and sleep."

"[Kind of what I want to do nowadays,]" Greninja said putting his hands on his shuriken markings on the sides of his thighs. "[We've been through a lot in Kalos. Maybe this is the time to take a vacation.]"

Lucario frowned, "How would you know? Simon never said that. He would always tell us what we are doing, when we are going, or where we are going in the future."

"[And he never told us any of those before we ended up here,]" Greninja pointed out. "[It could be a surprise.]"

"And do you think the Simon that we just met would mention that to us?"

Greninja shrugged. "[Maybe, or maybe not. Only Arceus knows.]"

Lucario sighed, feeling a little nervous of what to expect from this world. Then he heard a buzzing noise coming from below the floor. I was arriving from spending time with my parents. Lucario went into aura reading mode to find my presence. "Simon is here. Stay here! I will greet him downstairs and bring him back up here for the introduction."

"[Okay! I will just stay like this,]" Greninja replied, still staying on the bed sitting with his legs crossed. Then he closed his eyes.

Lucario made his way downstairs to the garage door and waited for me. Two minutes have passed, but I was still inside my car on the driveway. Lucario growled, "What is taking him so long?" Then he sensed that I was jamming to my electronic music with the volume cranked up to the loudest but safest number. The song currently playing was "Foundations" by Mitis featuring Adara. "(I have never heard something like this...ever!)" Lucario waited patiently until he had the opportunity to speak to him telepathically.

Once the song had ended, I suddenly heard a deep voice. " _Simon, are you here?_ "

"What the...huh?" I looked around the outside of my car. "Lucario?"

" _Oh, sorry,_ " he said, " _this must be your first time communicating to a Pokémon through you...is it not?_ "

"Umm...yes. How are you talking to me when I'm outside and you're inside?" I spoke aloud.

" _With my Aura abilities, I am also able to speak using telepathy on those I make contact with._ "

"(That...is...so...cool!)" I reacted mentally.

" _I heard that!_ " Lucario said suddenly. " _Be careful of what you think about when I'm tapped into you._ "

"Okay, stop it, Lucario. You're freaking me out now. I'll be inside shortly."

" _Oh, sorry. Okay, I will await your arrival._ " Lucario ended the aura connection.

I parked my Jaguar SUV inside the garage and got out. I inserted the house keys, unlocked the door, and opened it to find Lucario standing in front of me. "AGH! Oh my God!" I screamed, hopping and putting my hands over my heart. "Lucario, you really are good at scaring the hell out of people!"

Lucario realized that what he had done was wrong. "I am so sorry, Simon! Please forgive me. Once I sensed your presence, I could not help but go to you right away."

"Oh," I said. "I'm sorry, I took to long."

"No big deal. Actually I want you to meet another Pokémon." Lucario backed away as I closed the door.

"Wait...hold up. Did you just say 'another Pokémon'?" I stared at him with a serious look.

"Uhh...yes. I actually called him out of his Poké Ball." Lucario said with a straight face.

-  
FLASHBACK

 _As I set my phone down on the desk in front of my racing wheel, I immediately saw the two Poké Balls which made their way into this world overnight. "What the f***?" I said out loud. One Pokéball was expanded while t_ _ **he other one was still in it's form for handling**_ _._  
-

I facepalmed. "Oh s***! I completely forgot about that second Poké Ball. I want to meet him right now." Lucario was surprised by my words. "But before we do..." I paused briefly.

"What?" Lucario asked.

"Sorry, I'm still in disbelief. Can you hold out your paw for me please?"

"Uhhh...sure?" Lucario held his paw out towards me.

I put my hand under his paw and the other on top of it. My middle and ring fingers were separated just far enough to make room for the spike on the back of his paw. It felt like I was touching rubber. Then I felt the metal on his spike, carefully putting my index finger on the tip which did feel absolutely sharp. This aura Pokémon was the real deal.

"Do you believe now?" Lucario asked.

"I...I do now." I replied. "Let me see the other Pokémon."

We went on going up the stairs. "He is in the big bedroom," Lucario said. As we entered the master bedroom, he pointed at Greninja sitting on the bed and then looked at me. "Simon, this is Greninja, the Ninja Pokémon."

Greninja opened his eyes and made contact with mine. "Jaaa. Gren gren ninja!" he spoke. Then he got up and walked over to me until we were four feet away from each other. I stared at him, dazzled by his appearance...and his height. I looked up at his head then down to his feet many times for a minute. "Nin?" he then asked to interrupt my observance.

"Oh, sorry! I just can't believe I am meeting an actual Greninja for the first time." I was getting more and more excited with each passing second. I started shaking uncontrollibly. "Oh God! This is...no. Hold out your hand for me please, PLEASE!"

Greninja was confused as to why I was acting this way so suddenly. He held out his hand as if he was greeting someone formally, hoping that this would calm me down.

I grabbed his hand. The surface of his hand felt slippery, but his fingertips were sticky thanks to the adhesives. Experiencing all of this made me tremble even more. I backed away quickly, put my hands on the back of my head and said, "I am dreaming right now. Oh my God!" I started to walk in circles in the hallway, rambling about what I had just felt.

Greninja just stood still wondering what just happened. Lucario tapped into his mind and spoke to him, " _Like I said, he still does not believe there are Pokémon in this world right now._ " Then he approached me trying to get my attention, being careful not to accidentally stab me with his metal spikes. I was completely oblivious to him walking up towards me because my mind was still going crazy. "Simon...SIMON!" When Lucario barked at me, I stopped, regaining my own sanity. I looked at him, then he said, "Look, I know you still do not believe that we are right here right now. But please, calm yourself for once!"

I started to sweat in embarassment. I took a deep breath, then I said, "Man. Okay. Sorry about that!" I looked at the frog's pink eyes. "It's nice to meet you, Greninja. I apologize for my reaction." I put my hands together and curled my fingers to prove it.

"Grawahl," Greninja responded, raising his hand slightly. "Grawl wah nin-ninja?"

I looked back at Lucario. "Umm...I can't understand what he's trying to say to me."

"(That's disappointing,)" Greninja thought to himself.

"He was asking if you could help us with figuring out how we got here." Lucario said.

"Oh! Of course," I replied, then looked at Greninja, "I also want to find out how and why you two arrived here. I don't want to say that magic did all of this because I don't think that is not how it works in this world."

Greninja crossed his arms and looked down at the floor. "Ninnnnn..." Suddenly, a loud growl came from his stomach. "Grawhl!?"

Lucario and I stared at him putting his hand over his stomach. Then I said, "Oh man. You guys must be hungry by now, and so am I. It's already lunch time. How about I make all of us some food?"

"YES!" both Pokémon shouted in excitement.

"Alright! Let me get dressed first, then I'll start. Why don't you two make your way to the dining table downstairs near the kitchen and seat yourselves?"

"We shall go before you, Simon!" Lucario said in reply.

I smiled as I watched both of them run rapidly down the stairs one after the other. "(Wow, they move pretty quickly! Haha!)" Then I turned around and went into my bedroom to change. "(I hope they are able to digest human food. They must be able to! I remember feeding them something in the game, but I don't remember what it was.)"


	4. A Taste Of Earth

**Chapter 4: A Taste Of Earth**

Simon's Home  
Las Vegas, NV, United States  
Sunday, 5 January 2020 11:30

Greninja and Lucario were downstairs patiently waiting for my appearance to make them lunch. I was upstairs changing into my comfortable clothes and checking my social media on my phone. Afterwards, I thought about my Nintendo 3DS if something had happened to it overnight. So I picked it up from its charging station and began to analyze it.

There was no visible damage to the exterior, and the Pokémon X game card was still in its slot. Then, I opened the 3DS and scanned for damages to the screens or buttons. The top and bottom screens remained free from any marks except for the bottom screen which had fingerprints and curved lines from using the stylus. I pressed every button on the 3DS to make sure they were clicking normally, and they were. The volume and 3D screen sliders on the sides on the top-half of the device were moving up and down without heavy resistance. Concluding the analysis of my Nintendo 3DS, I determined that there should not be anything wrong with the functions that each button.

Next, I booted up the system and the game. Pokémon X was able to start as normal, and I selected my profile from the pre-game screen. After loading the profile, immediately, something was visually wrong in-game. The game loaded to the last save location, but my actual character was missing. Instead, I could only see a black circle on the ground which would be where my avatar stood. The user interface on the bottom screen didn't completely show everything. The Pokémon-Amie page was displaying, but the last-selected Pokémon (which was Greninja) wasn't appearing. I took out the stylus from the bottom of the 3DS and tried to click the center of the bottom screen. Numerous times I clicked everywhere in attempt to open up the menu containing options to decorate the room, play with Pokémon, or switch between the creatures. "[My game is broken! What the hell!?]" I screamed internally. "[I think they really came into this world with magic. The problem is that magic is virtually non-existent in this world. How should I tell those monsters straight up that they came out of a video game? This is not going to be f****** easy!]" I powered off my 3DS.

Meanwhile, Greninja and Lucario were sitting in the living room staying quiet for most of the time I was taking; Greninja sat on the sofa in front of the television set while Lucario sat with his legs crossed on the hard wooden floor. Greninja felt slightly uneasy and thought about how well he and Lucario will fare in this world. He did appreciate the decorations around the room. The room contained several art that my parents bought from a store closeout about a decade ago. There was one painting that was three feet in length and four feet in width hanging on the left side wall; it was a painting of a sun setting beyond a beautiful forest landscape consisting of towering mountains on both sides and a lake in the middle. Two smaller-sized paintings were displaying flowers in a vase, with each painting having different flower colors: one red and yellow combination hanging to the right of the TV on the wall, and the other blue and white hanging behind the sofa. Then, on the corner to the left of the TV were two bunny statues (both holding flowers) standing on a glass table along with a lamp. On the same glass table was a 2x3 folder with a drawing of an airport with two planes: one landing on and one taking off from the runway. The folder contained many other drawings which I made in an art class in high school. To the right of the TV was an elephant statue in which it was carrying a flatbed full of fake vegetation. Overall, the living room made Greninja slightly more relaxed and peaceful.

Staring at the bunny statues, Greninja spoke, "[Lucario.]"

"Hmm?" Lucario answered.

"[Do you think we'll get to meet other creatures in this world]?"

"I think we will come across many that we have never seen in our world. So far I only saw one that looked kind of like a Lillipup."

Greninja pointed to the bunnies. "[Look at those statues. Do you think they look like Bunnelby?]"

Lucario looked to where Greninja was pointing. "They kind of do, but their ears are not the same."

"[And what about that one over there?]" Greninja pointed to the elephant statue.

"Looks like a Donphan, but without tusks...and its hide is thinner." Lucario suddenly remembered, "Wait. Do you want to know something really interesting?"

"[What is it?]" Greninja replied.

"This boy was dreaming about those creatures last night. I saw him cuddling with a child which was much bigger than a Donphan with an average height!"

Greninja gave him a surprised face. "[That is just...CUTE!]" He then raised his hands into the air and clapped, giggling for a short moment.

"Uhh...you know I'm not into that kind of...thing," Lucario gave him an uninterested look.

"[Oh come on, Lucario! I'm was kidding. I won't tell Simon that. Hahaha...]" Greninja smiled. "[Besides, I want to know more about this world as much as you do." Lucario kept staring at Greninja for a moment. "[What?]" Greninja barked.

"Do you think..." Lucario sighed. His ears fell the instant he thought about his trainer.

"[Tell me anything, Lucario. I've noticed that something is really bothering you,]" Greninja said in a serious tone.

"It is just...it is just that Simon, our trainer...he might be looking for us at this moment." Lucario, putting his paws together, started to feel worried. Then he heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

I descended downstairs and made my way into the living room, where I saw Greninja and Lucario sitting in their places. "Hey, guys!"

Greninja looked at me in silence, and Lucario said in reply raising his ears as soon as he looked at me dressed in pajama pants decorated with teddy bears and a white T-shirt, "H-Hey, Simon!"

"So," I said, putting my hands together, "I want to know something about you two." I paused and looked at Greninja, then at Lucario, to make sure that I have their attention. "Do you eat human food?"

Greninja and Lucario looked at each other, then they looked back at me and said at the same time, "No..."

I scratched the back of my head in shock. "Oh...well, what did you eat recently? There's gotta be something in this world for you two to enjoy."

Lucario tried to think about what he ate in the past week in Kalos. "(Most of the time, my trainer would feed me Poké Puffs. They are very filling, but the tastiness gets old after a while. But I do remember eating something for humans from Lumiose City; I cannot remember what it was called.) Actually, I think I ate some before, but I am willing to try something new."

I looked at Greninja for his response, and he nodded in agreement with Lucario. "Alright then," I said, "I'm guessing you two are aware that there are no Pokémon food in this world because...you know." I didn't want to explain any further. Then, I opened the refrigerator in the kitchen. "Now let's see...what can I give you for your first meal on Planet Earth?"

"(Earth? Is that what this world is called?)" Lucario thought. He looked at Greninja and noticed that he had the exact same thoughts.

In the refrigerator, there were some styrofoam containers filled with Filipino food that I would love to eat at this moment, but then I asked myself, "(What if Lucario can't eat meat? He does have sharp fangs from what I saw...or at least that's what I think...OOPS!)" I shook my head trying to get rid of what I had said mentally.

Unfortunately, Lucario had already been observing my thoughts due to his eagerness to eat; however, he remained quiet. "(Meat, huh? Well, I guess as Lucario we are born with the option to be carnivorous. I can bite through hard things, like bones, with no problems, but I consider myself a Lucario that hates to eat other Pokémon or humans.)"

"Hmmm...mmmm...uhhh..." I looked around in the refrigerator as carefully as I could. Besides the Filipino food, there was little left to eat. On one of the shelves, I saw the last bread package only containing six more slices. "Yeah, I'm running out of food at the perfect time." I grabbed the package by the top and removed it from the shelf to show it to the two hungry Pokémon. "How about we finish up the entirety of this bread? I also have jelly and peanut butter; it would taste delicious, if you guys have never tried the combination before."

Greninja suddenly stood up on his feet. With one blink, his pupils in both eyes turned from horizontal lines into actual pupils; he was focused on the bread that I was holding. Then he bent forward and, without hesitation, leaped at me without saying a word. I froze, closing my eyes in surprise, and squeezed my hand that was originally holding the bread package. I heard a loud pop after this happened, and Greninja was already out of my sight. With my eyes still closed, my body shaking, and still looking at where he once stood, I shouted, "OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD! WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS!?"

Lucario sensed my surprised feeling and detected my heart beating rapidly. Then he found Greninja standing with his arms crossed standing next to the table, where there was the same package of the bread slices that was once in my hand. " _Hey, Greninja. Didn't I tell you to take it easy on him?_ " he said telepathically.

Greninja looked at Lucario's serious face, " _Oh, sorry. I'm so hungry that I cannot wait to taste Earth food for the first time,_ " he responded mentally.

Lucario turned towards me as I was still standing in shock, and said, "Simon, you have just witnessed Greninja's speed." He stood up on his feet and walked towards me to put his paw on my fist which was still raised.

"[Wow,]" I thought. As soon as Lucario touched me, I was reminded that all Pokémon are not to be messed with. I took several deep breaths. "He is...REALLY FAST!" I exclaimed with my voice cracking.

"Ninjaaaa..." Hearing the voice which sounds more aggressive than Stitch from the Lilo & Stitch movie, I looked to my right to find Greninja standing next to the dining table where the bread rested. I was easily amazed by how fast he could move, but, at the same time, I was nervous. What if he does this in front of the people of Planet Earth?

I smirked and chuckled at Greninja, then I made my way to the kitchen sink to retrieve three plates for the meal and walked back to set them onto the dining table. Lucario stood by Greninja's side as I made my way to the sink again to get the spoons for us to spread the condiments on the bread slices. Then I asked them, "How about something to drink?"

"I would like water..." Lucario replied. Then he made a quick glance at Greninja to find him nodding for the same drink, "...make that two."

I made a stop at the refrigerator to retrieve three Member's Mark water bottles, then I walked to the dining table to set the spoons onto their plates and the water in front of both Pokémon. Afterwards, I opened the bread package with six bread slices left, took out two slices for each of them and put them on the plates, doing the same for myself. Then I reached for the peanut butter and jelly jars and opened them. Greninja and Lucario were watching me closely as I performed the routine of eating a PB&J sandwich. First, I started with the peanut butter. I used my own spoon to scoop out the spread, poured it onto one slice, and spread it out all over. I did the same for the jam. "Okay," I said looking at both of them, "How about you two do like what I just did? It's necessary for building a delicious one!"

Greninja did exactly what I had done, scooping both of the condiments one at a time and spreading them all over the bread with his spoon. While he was handling the peanut butter, Lucario started with the jam. However, Lucario was a bit more curious. He took his spoon, scooped up the jam, and takes a whiff of the strawberry flavor. Memories of himself at a strawberry farm immediately played for a short period. I stared at him feeling fascinated at the same time. It wasn't long until he snapped out of the memory and looked back at me.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Uhh...no. Sorry. It...I, uh..." He thought for a moment. "It reminded me of home."

"Umm..." I said, "Yeah, delicious stuff, isn't it?"

Lucario sighed, made a small smile, and proceeded to spread the jam all over his bread slice. He did not put any peanut butter, however. I usually prefer my bread slices like that as well. He took a bite, while Greninja followed.

"[Tastes good!]" Greninja said. Lucario agreed, and he relayed Greninja's message to me.

"I'm happy!" I replied, feeling accomplished for no apparent reason. I took a bite out of my PB&J. Then I glanced at Greninja who was about to finish his sandwich. I found it really odd to see such a creature with a tongue that wraps around its neck, similar to a scarf. I wondered if he could taste the surroundings no matter his position...literally. But that's a question I want to ask him later. The way that he eats the food is quite astonishing. It makes me wonder if his taste buds are in a concentrated area on his tongue.

Greninja, Lucario, and I didn't talk for as long as we ate our bread. All that mattered presently was that both were enjoying their first taste of food grown on Earth, and that we were all killing our hunger. I was certain that everything that they eat here will be ultimately different from what they are used to eating in Kalos, or a fictional world as I would like to call it. I looked at Greninja who was opening his water bottle, then drinking three quarters of it. I concluded that he and Lucario already know the purpose of a bottle containing liquids. But what they didn't know was the importance of recycling, and I wanted to tell them right away.

"Hey you two," I said, "When you are finished with the bottles, I need to dispose them in a certain way."

Lucario opened and drank half of his water bottle. "In what way?"

"Well, let's just say our world is constantly being polluted with these things." I held up my water bottle to show them. Then I opened it and started drinking.

"Polluted? What does that even mean?" Lucario asked.

"(English isn't a strong subject for them after all.) Hmmm, how can I explain this...it's these things which are made out of plastic. Plastic is used everywhere in this world in many ways; this bottle is one example. The problem with plastic is that most people in this country, and also in some places all over the world, don't dispose these correctly. As a result, they are harming the environment; lots of animals ingest these and cause eating and breathing problems, or in worst cases, DEATH. Plastic does not decompose really well. So instead, I am disposing these water bottles the correct way; I'm talking about recycling."

"Recycling, huh?" Lucario responded, thinking about the effects that I mentioned, then he looked down at his water bottle. "You are not saying that when I drink this water, I'm drinking plastic?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, no no no! You're safe to drink it. It's just eating the bottle that you will have health issues."

"[I don't recall any Pokémon eating plastic. It doesn't taste or smell like it's meant to be eaten.]" Greninja said to Lucario.

"I figured." Lucario replied, and relayed Greninja's statements to me after I asked.

"What's even good about recycling," I continued, "is that I can make some money by giving these bottles to a recycling company. It also makes me feel like I'm making this world a better place to live for all animals, including us humans. I've seen all the videos of deceased animals due to the ingestion of plastic."

"I believe what you are saying, Simon," Lucario said. Greninja also nodded in reply.

"You'll feel the same way I feel once you two make the right choice of disposing this material correctly," I pointed out.

Greninja, Lucario, and I finished drinking our water. On the table, I pushed the bottle downward to crush it to a smaller size and replaced the cover afterwards. Both Pokémon observed this and started doing the same. "Great!" I praised them. "You two are doing the world a good favor." I collected the bottles, then I made my way to the kitchen where a large-sized waste bag was being used to store recycled plastic for delivery in the future.

As I walked to put the bottles away, Lucario tapped into my mind once again without saying a word. I was thinking to myself that these two creatures will adapt to this world without difficulty as long as I am with them. "(I think so too. Being around this Simon, I was able to learn something about this world. I look forward to more!)" Once Lucario had thought the last part, he started to see a memory of him and my in-game avatar. He felt slightly down after this started. But the question keeps coming up to him: Is the avatar his real trainer, or am I his?


	5. Brief Information

NOTES TO THE READER

\- The reviews are pouring in. I appreciate every one of them so far! I apologize to anyone who has had a hard time understanding my narration in the previous four chapters. As the volume progresses, there will be many times where I may make the same mistake again, but I will try to be as clear as I possibly can with my narration.

\- Remember that I do not keep a schedule when I upload new content. It is according to my motivation and free time. Life in college can be tough, especially if you're studying to be an engineer like I am currently. I hope everyone will understand!

\- In this chapter, there is a religious topic that the characters will be talking about, briefly. I have no issues with people who may not agree to some aspects of my religion, but I do ask that people respect my beliefs. Thanks in advance!

 **Chapter 5: Brief Information**

Simon's Home

Las Vegas, NV, United States

Sunday, 5 January 2020 12:10

I walked over to the living room towards the armchair. Greninja and Lucario followed behind. Afterwards, I sat down on the armchair, and both Pokémon stood in front of me wondering what I am going to do next. I took a brief moment to close my eyes, take some deep breaths, and wind down. Then I opened my eyes and found the two in my sight, "Hey, why don't you two sit on the sofa and relax for a bit?" I pointed my finger towards the sofa in front and to my left.

Greninja and Lucario glanced at each other for a moment. Then, they walked to and sat on the sofa. For Greninja, it was very plush that he could sit and/or lie down on it for hours. Lucario took some time to study my feelings and thoughts. I still felt very comfortable on the armchair as I attempted to clear my mind from what has happened since last night. Lucario was about to ask me a question, but then he decided to hold it until the right time comes. He didn't want to interrupt my peace, so Lucario took advantage of the time to cool down as well.

Greninja, while in a state of tranquility, slightly opened his left eye and pointed it towards me. As he stares at my placidity, he slowly begins to realize that I somewhat resemble the in-game trainer in Pokémon X. "(My master is always down to chill out under the trees back at Vaniville Town in Kalos. For some reason, this person acts just like him. Now I'm starting to ask myself: What if he IS my master?)" Thirty seconds passed. "(It's interesting enough that he has the same name as my master, but I think I should investigate further by hanging around him for a while. Lucario has been at this before I came here, so I must also gather information from him.)"

One minute passed. I took one last deep breath, then I looked at both Pokémon. "Hey guys," I said softly. Both of them opened their eyes and put their attention towards me. "I want to spend some time talking about this place and how life works here. Would you two be willing to take some time to learn?"

Greninja and Lucario stared at each other for a moment. Then Lucario replied, "Yes, Simon. Please tell us about this place."

"All right," I said, "But first, I should allow you two to ask away. I'm sure both of you are as confused as I was when I first encountered you all."

"(Oh, what an opportunity!) So...I want to ask about..." Lucario said, trying to sort out his mind. I made full eye contact at him and nodded in response, waiting for his words to come out. "Sigh. Okay, my first question is: How did you know about Pokémon if there are not any in this place?"

"Boy, that's a really good question to start with. You see, ever since I was young...I was probably about six years old...I watched the Pokémon TV show. I still love watching it to this day. Now, you may be asking yourselves, 'How on Earth do we know about you guys?' The truth is, a long time ago, someone created the Pokémon universe through writing. You may not believe it, but for us humans, it's true."

"Interesting," Lucario responded in disbelief as he crossed his arms.

"Yes, it is. After the writing was complete, videographers, which are people who record stuff in full motion..." I looked up at the ceiling and tried to think if what I'm saying is true. "Wait...no. I should say, it's a group of animators. What they did was draw pictures according to what the writing was about, and they created more pictures to fill in each frame. To make this animation work, they had to go frame by frame, and drawing several pictures repeatedly took forever at the time. Now, you should know that these animators started all the way back to when I was born...23 years ago to be exact; it took so much time and dedication to push out an episode each week. These days, there is new technology to make it much simpler to animate and, to add to that, take less time to publish." I stopped myself to look at the two creatures before moving on.

Greninja and Lucario gave me a blank look. Then Lucario said, "I understood nothing from what you just said."

"Oh God...all right. Long story short, it's basically what I just said in the beginning: You two were developed by a human author/writer. Other humans basically made the writing into TV shows, movies, video games, card games, etc."

Lucario looked down at the floor drooping his ears. Greninja tapped Lucario's shoulder to reassure him, "[Hey, do not take it personally. Remember, this is not our place. Things here occur the way they do, and things in our world occur in our world.]"

I blurted out, hoping for forgiveness from him, "Please don't take it personally, Lucario. I'm being 100% honest with what I am telling you. It may not have happened the same way it may have been for your world."

"I..." Lucario spoke, "I am not taking it personally. It is a part of learning about the history. I still may not believe what you are saying, but I get to hear something informational at the very least. You see, I believe that Arceus created all of us and our universe." Greninja nodded in response.

"Oh...well that's kind of related to my religious affiliation then," I replied, "Just like you, I believe in one God and no other one. I believe He created us humans and made the world too."

"I see," he responded.

I may or may not be totally accurate on what I am about to say. "My country was founded under the principles from what we call 'Christianity'. Our God is named Jesus Christ. That's how the religion got its name."

"Hmm," he said, "Arceus and Jesus Christ must have something in common."

"I would be happy to take you guys to the church I go to with my parents every Sunday and learn all this, but..." I paused.

"What?" Lucario asked.

"Because you two are currently the only existing Pokémon now in this world, people, including my parents, might be freaked out when they see extraordinary beings. I don't want to attract a lot of attention for now. If I do, the worst that could happen is that the government would possibly get involved, and I'd be in a helluva lot of trouble!"

"Why not just use our Poké Balls?" Lucario suggested, "You have them now, and you have the freedom of calling any of us out."

"[Agreed!]" Greninja said.

"Oh...really? Cool! Though I don't think I should call myself your owner...err...'trainer'...yet."

"That's okay. You do not have to." Lucario replied. "(I could get used to him. It is still part of my quest for finding my answers.)"

"But..." I paused for a thought, "you can hear anything besides someone calling you out of the ball?"

"Of course!" Lucario answered, "Pokémon are always listening from that ball."

"If that is the case, then you should be able to hear lectures from the church. Am I right?"

Lucario nodded.

A brief pause. Then I said, "Well, you know part of what I do on Sundays. After church, I usually don't have a lot going on. I sit behind my own computer pretty much all day, unless my friends want to do something with me."

"You do not spend time outside of your home?" Lucario asked.

I thought for a good moment on this. "Well, sometimes I do, but naturally I'm lazy."

"(Lazy...naturally...)" Lucario thought. Then he looked at Greninja saying, "I think he is your type!"

"[Oh, stop it!]" he reacted with a soft slap to Lucario's arm, "[I get up and run around a lot. You just don't see me doing it often.]" He crossed his arms and looked away.

"Sure..." Lucario replied.

"In all honesty, though," I said, "on the weekdays I usually work out, lifting some weights and running...you know, those sorts of things. It is important for me as an aircraft mechanic. Working on those flying machines, I'm always handling heavy parts."

"Do you fight?" Lucario asked.

"Do I fight? You mean like...physically?"

He nodded in response.

"Oh, I never fight with people unless it's for self-defense," I said, "I don't get myself involved with brawls because I'm nice. Honestly, I don't want to start fights."

"But have you ever done any kind of martial arts just for defense?" Lucario asked.

"I have done kickboxing before, but that was probably about a decade ago!" I replied.

"(Kickboxing...)" Lucario thought. He was reminded of many Pokémon which he faced in the other universe. All of them were pure Fighting-types; many used a variety of moves involving punches and kicks. "(Oh, the challenge of conquering Fighting-types...I miss it!)" This is due to the fact that Lucario is weak against Fighting-type Pokémon because of being part Steel-type. Fighting-types have an advantage over Steel-type monsters. Then he asked me, "Could you show us your moves? I want to see!"

"Oh, man! I don't even remember many techniques, but I'll try." I got up from the armchair and walked to the middle of the area in front of the stairs where I had enough room to avoid hitting anything. Then I proceeded to stand on my toes and made a fighting stance, with one leg in front of the other. Forming fists, I threw my right hand forward to make a basic punch followed by the same process with my left hand. I did it for the second time, but I added an uppercut using my right hand. For the third time, instead of the uppercut, I threw an elbow, still following behind the two basic forward punches.

Lucario gasped and was reminded of the stories about Infernape. It is described as the Flame Pokémon, bipedal, dual-type Fire/Fighting, who can utilize all limbs in physical combat. "You are using your elbows...you know Muay Thai!"

It suddenly clicked into my head. "Yes, that's it!" Then I demonstrated a series of punches: left, right, left...followed by a counter-clockwise roundhouse kick. "Ow! That actually hurt a little!"

"Easy, Simon. You must be a little bit out of shape." Lucario suggested.

"Isn't that what Pokémon trainers usually are?" I asked, massaging my right rear thigh where I felt most of the strain.

"Not all of them," Lucario answered, "Backpackers, dancers, skaters...ninjas...just to name some." Greninja twitched the tip of his tongue in response to that last example, then he patted both hands on his scarf...tongue...pretending to fix it.

"Hmm..." I said, scratching my head. Then I briefly saw flashbacks of the gameplay from the 3DS game.

"So, Simon," Lucario said, "What do other humans do around here?"

"Oh, right. Yes. There are people out there who do all sorts of things. It's all about what they do, sometimes out of interest. There are those who work for a living, just like me, which is actually what we need to do to 'survive', so to speak. Not like actual survival, but we need money to afford anything we get here. I grew up with a strong like for airplanes and now I actually fix them. It's my job to make sure they work with no problems. Also, someday, I would like to fly one. Again, that's why I work my ass off to get that, because flying lessons are damn expensive. Most importantly, I enjoy what I do."

"[Sounds like you have the rest of your life already planned out. I'm amazed!]" Greninja said, putting his hands together. Lucario repeated his words to me.

"You're right," I replied, "Not many people can do that. They do as something comes; they're always trying something new. I guess that's their way of finding what they like. That's sort of wasting a bit more money though. But don't get me wrong, I'm also still down to try something new. … But as soon as you hang around here more often, you'll notice that we have pretty much the same kind of people you've listed before. Although the ninjas are most likely at the other side of the world at a country called Japan."

Greninja asked Lucario to pass on a question. "Hey, Simon. Do you think our powers work in this universe?"

I took a good look at their appearance. Then I said, "I don't know. The only way to find out is if you guys use your moves. I do want to know too, actually! BUT PLEASE DO NOT USE THEM IN MY HOUSE. I actually know a place out in the desert that I can access where no one can see us. You can test them out there."

"Alright. When can we all go?" Lucario asked.

"I can take you two on a road trip later!" I replied.

"Great!" both Pokémon said excitedly and simultaneously, thrusting their arms up.

"Alright, I'm excited too. Just remember what I had said about appearing before other people."

"Noted already." Lucario lifted and angled his paw where I could see his cone-shaped metal spike. Greninja simply gave me a serious look, assuring me that he was listening carefully.

"But one more thing. To be on the safe side of all things powerful, I need to find some way of healing you two in case any of you receive damage. I know you guys are powerful in many areas, and I easily see that. But things could turn unexpectedly from good to bad at any moment in time." I stressed this as best as I could to them.

"Do you have something similar to some kind of healing potion?" Lucario asked.

"Well, I do have a First Aid Kit, but I don't know how well the stuff in there would work on you guys. For now, I suggest that you two don't get into a sparring match."

Lucario growled slightly at my suggestion, but he knew how important it was considering the fact that he and Greninja are in a foreign universe.

"Okay. I think I said just about everything at minimum about this place...this world. I will go upstairs to my room and do a couple of things. I also have to take care of some important business on my computer." Being mindful of my strained thigh, I proceeded slowly up the stairs while holding the handrail.

As soon as I was out of sight, Lucario put both paws next to each other in front of him as if he was holding something. Then, slowly, he spread them out, and as he had done so, a beam of white light outlined in blue formed connecting one paw to the other. As he stopped his paws about one and a half feet away from each other, out came the remaining light forming into two ends of a bone. Lucario formed his weapon for using the move Bone Rush. Then, he let go of one end and tapped his paw on top of the bone. The bone was rock solid.

Greninja observed carefully at Lucario's bone development. Then he tapped his shoulder to get his attention. " _It looks like our powers haven't changed one bit._ "

Lucario directed his eyes back on the bone. Then he replied telepathically, " _Only the test will determine if we have everything that we have without limits._ "

Sunday, 5 January 2020 13:00

Meanwhile, I was in my room on my computer typing some email responses. I was rushing through them because I was eager to find my answers to how I will medically treat my Pokémon in this world. Once I was done with sending the emails, I got up from my rolling chair behind the computer table and walked over to my Nintendo 3DS placed on the floor between my bed and another table. I powered it on, booted the Pokémon X game, and then set it onto the bed. Then I returned to the computer table where both Poké Balls rested, and I grabbed and put them on the bed as well.

I picked up the 3DS and found that my avatar in the game was still missing; there was only a circle-shaped shadow in the middle. I attempted to move the device's thumbstick around, and the shadow started moving around. In the game, I was currently at the Pokémon Center. I moved the "imaginary avatar" towards Nurse Joy at the front desk and pressed the "Action" button. The interaction worked as normal and she prompted me to heal my party of Pokémon. I accepted her offer, then something surprising came up again. I would be carrying four balls of creatures in this game, but only two appeared at the healing station. "(What? Only two? Interesting...)" I mentally reacted. Then I looked away from the screen, and my attention was now on the Poké Balls. "(What if...these things can be put back into the game just by placing them on the screen?)" So I did; I put one ball on the screen to see what happens next. A quarter of a minute passed, and nothing happened. "(Wait, do I need someone in the ball first?)"

I walked out of the room and looked downward around the meeting room to find my two monsters. They saw me as I appeared, then I asked, "Hey, umm...I need both of you for a second."

Both of them looked at each other for a brief moment, then they got up from the sofa and made their way up the stairs towards me. Once we were all face to face, Lucario asked, "What can we do for you, Simon?"

"I'm going to do an experiment on you guys. It may or may not work, but if it does work, the effect should be that you would be recovered of any health lost. If it doesn't, it doesn't happen, and you shouldn't lose anything. Oh, by the way, thank you for your patience," I said. "(I'm hoping this will work.)"

Both Pokémon nodded in response to my thanks.


	6. The Test (Part I)

**Chapter 6: The Test (Part I)**

Simon's Home

Las Vegas, NV, United States

Sunday, 5 January 2020 13:05

"Okay, come in," I commanded. Greninja and Lucario followed me into my bedroom. It felt a little warm once we entered, so I adjusted the ceiling fan's speed to "Medium" with its remote controller. Then I walked over to my bed where my Nintendo 3DS handheld and the Poké Balls were placed alongside. "So, I am going to need one of you back into the ball. Who would like to volunteer?"

They glanced at each other for a moment. Then Lucario raised his left eyelid and asked Greninja using telepathy, " _Would you like to go first?_ "

" _It's up to you, partner,_ " Greninja replied with a slight head tilt to the right.

"I will go first," Lucario told me.

"Alright," I responded. I turned around and grabbed both balls from the bed top. Looking at them, I realized that it was tough to differentiate between who belongs to which one because they appeared identical. "Hmm...50-percent chance I will have your ball, Lucario."

"It can be difficult to tell," he explained. "That is why trainers organize them first in their party."

"I guess you're right," I replied. "Well, here we go. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Simon!" Lucario said.

For once, I felt a little bit excited to do this. It always seemed fun to me to say a Pokémon's name, then tell them to come in or out of a functional sphere. I pointed the Poké Ball with the button facing him, then I took a deep breath. Here. Goes. Nothing. "Lucario, return!" I commanded.

Suddenly, after I said these words, a red stream of light emitted from the button and rapidly surrounded Lucario. He closed his eyes. His entire body from head to toe turned red completely, and immediately he was sucked into the ball. I became dumbfounded by what I had just seen before my own eyes. I never thought this device would be able to do such function in this world! "Whoa! That. Was. COOL!" I said with a high pitch. Then suddenly, I felt the Poké Ball move in my hand. "(Lucario must be tapping the ball from the inside.) Yes, Lucario! But this is only one part of the experiment. At some point, you're going to feel energized."

"(Energized? Could it be...?)" Greninja thought as he scratched his right ear.

I turned to my 3DS and set the ball down on the bottom screen. Greninja walked closer to me and observed my actions. Then I said, "Alright. How am I supposed to heal Pokémon like this...uhh..." I scratched the back of my head.

Suddenly, both screens changed into a bright turquoise color. The Pokéball became outlined and flashed in white as this happened. A series of tones also played from the speakers of my handheld, which was actually the healing sound from the Pokémon game (when the player heals their Pokémon in the Pokémon center). All of this happened without my inputs on the device. After the duration of the effects, the 3DS returned to normal where I left off.

I was struck with awe and speechless after all of this happened. "How can this happen!?" I yelled as I pounded my bed top with a fist.

Greninja blinked his eyes, turning from single black dash pupils into pink rings. He, too, was surprised by the same thing. "[Is Lucario okay?]" he asked.

I didn't comprehend his speech because, as a human being, I can only hear syllables of his name. "Oh, sorry, Greninja. I just can't believe...this is happening."

Greninja put his left hand on my right shoulder and then pointed at the ball with his right hand.

"Oh, right. Let's see now." I said. I took Lucario's storage ball off of the handheld. I rotated it around all axis to see if there are any unusual visible differences after I performed the experiment, then I pointed it towards my bedroom doorway with the sphere upright and sitting on the palm of my hand. "Lucario, come on out...please!"

After I had said the command, the ball opened. Out came blue light which made its way in a controlled manner to the doorway and formed Lucario's appearance. "I'm here," he said after the transformation had finished.

"How do you feel?" I asked him.

"I actually feel a little bit better," he replied.

I looked at the ball on my hand, then at my handheld on the bed, then at Greninja. "This is actually working," I said loudly, "I'm very confused. This shouldn't happen, but for whatever reason, it did! Ahem..." I coughed and looked back at Lucario, "You know this is not the Pokémon Center. You were healed...in my house...with my gaming device. HOW?!"

"I don't know, Simon!" Lucario responded with his voice louder than mine.

I slapped my hand on my head with a lot of force that I hurt myself. It was painful enough that, out of instinct, I let go of Lucario's Poké Ball to put my other hand on my head. The ball's metal property made the collision with the wooden floor of my bedroom sound super loud that it echoed around my house. The impact jump-scared Greninja a little bit. It also made a dent on the wood.

Lucario sensed my feelings and the pain I am currently in. "H-hey, Simon. I understand you're in disbelief." He reached out and put both of his paws on both sides of my torso to stabilize me before I fall. "I should be thanking you for doing this for all of us at the very least. With our existence here, we wouldn't have another way to survive, not with humans who have never seen such creatures before."

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths to reduce the dizziness resulting from the facepalm. Once I felt slightly better, I put one hand on his shoulder and the other on the top of his head between his ears. I slowly rubbed my hand front-to-back, back and forth on his head. As I did this, I noted how soft his blue fur was around the face "mask" (as I would call it); it felt like a plush toy. "You're welcome. I'm sorry for venting out on you," I said.

"Don't worry about it," Lucario replied as he closed his eyes and smiled. As I was rubbing his head, he started to remember the times he had spent bonding with my in-game avatar. Then he suddenly pulled away and stared at me.

"Oh, did I...? Sorry, I went too far, didn't I?" I said, thinking about what I just did.

"(I...I...this is strange...I feel strange! I helped a human, and in return I was caressed in the same way my trainer has always done? This is very...oh, no! I should not be acting like this. Oh, Arceus!) Umm, I...uhh...I need to sit down and meditate for some time. Please excuse me," Lucario said and bowed afterwards.

"Oh, yes. Go on ahead! You can go to the master bedroom and use the bed there," I replied. Lucario rushed towards the location. I felt bad about my own actions occurring before my thoughts. "(I probably shouldn't have petted Lucario like that with so little time spent with him,)" I thought, "(Awkward.) Sigh." I turned to look at Greninja. He was just standing there with a blank face, his dash-lined pupils staring at me. Then I said, "That was really awkward. I really feel bad for Lucario. Please forgive me. Later on, both of us will see if Lucario's okay. Will you do that with me? I will talk to him to make up for all this."

Greninja nodded in response to my offer.

I picked up Lucario's Poké Ball and set it onto my computer table behind my racing wheel. Then I took Greninja's ball and pointed it at him. He then stood up straight, ready to be called in. "Greninja, come on in!" I commanded. The sphere performed its function on him, bringing him inside with the red stream of light. Then I put it on the 3DS for the operation. The operation was a success. I retrieved the ball again and pointed it at the doorway, "Greninja, come on out!" A blue stream of light came out to form his complete figure. After that, I also set the ball next to Lucario's, noting myself to remember which one is which.

"Alright," I said, "You feel better?"

"[Yes,]" he replied as he bowed and put his two hands together, signaling a 'thank you' gesture.

"Oh, thank God," I said, "I need to slow down before I hurt someone." I turned around, scratching my head, and sat on my chair behind the desk. I stared at my desktop monitor that was in sleep mode.

Silence filled the entire house except for my semi-noisy desktop tower and the ceiling fan.

Greninja walked closer and stood next to me for a few minutes, not saying a word. Then he moved towards my bed, moved my Nintendo towards the edge closest to the wall, and sat down crossing his legs and setting his hands in between them. "(So much has happened in so little time. And I'm feeling something strange from his presence; it's radiant. It reminds me of the time I was with Simon as a Frogadier...the time where I was starting to understand my purpose in life. Yeah, there were times where I, and he, couldn't understand some things and felt embarrassed about them, but not as much as he is feeling right now, especially in these unforeseen circumstances.)"

Later, I swiveled my chair to see Greninja still pondering on my bed. I did not speak a word to him; I just didn't want to. "(I'm embarrassed enough. Every time I see something out of the ordinary, I freak out about it. And freaking out about it leads to more awkwardness. It's becoming a pattern, and I want to change that. I don't want the Pokémon to feel that way all the time. … Great, I think I'm starting to sound like Lucario.)"

Meanwhile, in the master bedroom, Lucario was sitting on the queen-sized bed with his legs crossed and each paw resting on his knees. "(I cannot help it,)" he thought, "My personality is something I cannot change easily. I have the tendency to do things without thinking. That moment I had was one of them. I always have to be reminded to take everything nice and easy, especially in this world. I appreciated Simon's way of praising me through caressing. It is the flashbacks that I had which are clouding my mind with the question of 'Who the hell is my real master?', and that will eventually kill me...I guess.)"

Sunday, 5 January 2020 13:30

Back in my own bedroom, I turned on my desktop monitor and logged into my user account. As soon as I had access, I opened up the Spotify application, which contained all of my music. I navigated to my electronic music playlist and filtered the list of 4000+ songs I added to it, since 2013, by searching for CMA, one of my favorite electronic artists. The song that I started playing was "Caught In Our Thoughts" in which CMA composed. I leaned back on my chair and listened as the piano, violin, and the beats played in harmony.

Greninja listened as the song built up, and as he did, he felt calmer and closed his eyes. He was also curious at the same time; he had never listened to this type of music before. "(I'm feeling refreshed as I listen to this. I am so used to meditating outdoors in the middle of nowhere where wild Pokémon thrive, but not with this.)"

Lucario could hear the music from the master bedroom thanks to his excellent sense of hearing. He also felt tranquil as the song continued to its end. Then he detected the same feelings that Greninja and I were feeling. "(I think I am going to join them,)" he thought, and he got up.

"Hey, Greninja," I said, then his pupils were directed towards me. "This is the kind of music I listen to all the time, usually when I am at home like this. This must be very different from some music you've heard back in your homeworld, right?" Greninja nodded in reply. "Not only that I listen to this, but also I like other kinds of music. I sometimes listen to Japanese music that play during the opening of some anime TV shows that I watched, and they give me the feels." Greninja stared at me without saying anything. "Oh, umm...it's...music from a foreign country from across the ocean west of here." Geographically speaking, I was referring to the Pacific Ocean. "It's more towards fast-paced rock music if I can relate it to a common genre." Greninja knew what rock music sounded like, so he nodded.

I pulled out my keyboard and navigated around my Spotify to search for a Japanese song to demonstrate. I searched for "Crossing Fields" by LiSA, a song that was the opening for the anime "Sword Art Online"; it's my second favorite anime behind Pokémon. Greninja listened to the song play. "[Interesting,]" he thought, and he also noticed the female vocalist speaking the foreign language.

About three minutes into the song, Lucario showed up at my door, intrigued by what is currently playing. He saw Greninja on the bed, then me looking comfortable on my chair facing the computer, and then he walked towards us. Greninja noticed him as he walked in. "[Are you well?]" he asked Lucario. I turned around after I heard Greninja speak. Then I lowered the computer's volume.

"Yeah, better. I came to hear this." Lucario replied.

"I'm just showing Greninja the kind of music I listen to," I said.

"Hmm," Lucario exhaled.

For the next 10 minutes, I quickly scrolled through a select number of songs of various music genres I like, and both Pokémon seem to enjoy listening to them all.

Sunday, 5 January 2020 13:55

"Hey guys," I said, "I think we should start heading out to see if your powers work at all. It can get pretty chilly in the afternoon hours here. We're in the middle of the winter season."

Greninja stood up on his feet from my bed and said to Lucario, "[I'm ready.]"

"Rrah," Lucario nodded in agreement, "Simon, we are ready whenever you are."

I retrieved my phone, my wallet, and the keys to my car from my computer desk. Then I picked up my 3DS and their storage balls. "Let's go," I commanded. Greninja, Lucario, and I exited the bedroom and made our way downstairs to the garage. I made a quick stop to the kitchen to get some water bottles, plus Gatorade, and junk food; I put them in my backpack. "You guys sit in the back seat of my car. The windows are dark enough from outside for anyone to notice anyone inside." They acknowledged. Once we were in the car, I pushed the Start-Stop button to start the engine, and afterwards I put on my electronic music playlist at moderate volume.

The destination was a 35-minute drive from the house, southeast of Las Vegas, along a dirt road called "Dutchman Pass", south of Henderson and west of Boulder City. I've been on that road only once (some many years ago), with some friends who liked to go off-roading with their pickup trucks, jeeps, and ATVs around that area. As far as I could remember, it was pretty isolated...nothing out there but the mountainous desert, except for some power lines. My Jaguar "BigCat" F-Pace is durable enough to handle the dirt roads, despite being a street performance-oriented vehicle.

Sunday, 5 January 2020 14:35

Once we arrived at the destination, I told Greninja and Lucario to wait in the car for a minute. The car's thermometer reading indicated 69 degrees Fahrenheit, and there was not a cloud in sight. I exited the car and performed a 360-degree horizon scan for any nearby people. No one was around. "Okay," I said as I grabbed my backpack out of the boot, "let's all go that way and test your abilities and powers there. This is a really nice car, and I don't want it to be destroyed. It's our only way out of here."

"Okay," Lucario replied. Greninja nodded.

As we walked away from my car, Greninja started to run. First, he ran at a slow speed, then gradually increased his speed to his fastest. I was witnessing his true running speed for the very first time. "(Wow, this is the real deal,)" I thought. Lucario followed behind Greninja. He ran at his top speed as well, but he was not as fast as Greninja. Meanwhile, I was simply walking at a steady pace, but I never lost sight of the two. They ran about a quarter mile away from me until turning back to intercept me. I stopped as soon as we were all face to face, then I asked, "So how about it?"

Greninja pointed down at his feet and said, "[I can certainly run like I always have been. Nothing changed in that part.]" Lucario nodded and relayed his words to me.

"That's awesome," I replied with a thumbs up, "Let's keep going a bit further so we can see your moves." As soon as I had said this, I felt both excited and nervous at the same time.

We eventually arrived at a decently large-sized patch of dirt free of vegetation; it was a ½ mile away from my car, so I assumed that any projectiles fired at that direction from the Pokémon may not travel that far. The dimensions of the dirt patch was large enough to be a football field...and a Pokémon battle. Interestingly, there were wooden bleachers set up on each longitudinal side of the field. Who would have thought there would be a sports team competing out in the middle of a desert? But then again, it's 2020; anything is possible...I guess?

Greninja and Lucario began to warm up by doing some arm stretches and jogging in place. I sat on the bleachers on one side, and I put my backpack down and opened it to take out some Gatorade. Then I walked up to both monsters and showed them the drinks, "So this is what is called Gatorade. It is a popular drink among human athletes to replenish thirst during a workout or when doing anything active for that matter, and it works better than drinking water alone."

Lucario walked closer to me to look at the red-colored bottle. "Can I have a taste of this?" he asked. Greninja also came over to give it a try.

"Sure," I responded, "It's almost like juice. They add flavoring to make it more appealing. This one in particular is fruit punch flavor." I opened the bottle and handed it over to Lucario first.

Lucario took a swig. "It is...interesting. I can taste a little medicine, but the flavoring helps counteract that. Here, partner, have a try!" He handed the Gatorade over to Greninja.

As Greninja sipped, I responded to Lucario, "That little medicine taste you may be experiencing is the electrolytes...I think. It's weird how they make these kinds of drinks. Some people like them, like me, and some don't.

"[I guess it will taste better after our test,]" Greninja said. He gave the Gatorade bottle back to me. I decided to drink it because I was feeling thirsty after the hike.

"You are right. Let us try out our moves now." Lucario replied.

"Hey, guys," I spoke, and they looked at me, "Please be careful!"

Both Pokémon raised their fists and nodded to me. The real test is about to begin.


	7. The Test (Part II)

**Chapter 7: The Test (Part II)**

An Abandoned Field In the Desert

near Dutchman Pass Rd, Henderson, NV, United States

Sunday, 5 January 2020 14:55

The real test is about to begin.

I sat back down on the wooden bleachers on the sideline of the field and brought out my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone out of my pocket. - It is a phone (more like a "phablet" because it is that large of a size) that I have had for six years now. Even though the Android version is way out of date, it still has been a pretty reliable phone for me, and I am very happy with the technology features it came with. The only major change I have done to the phone is extend the battery capacity, three times the original size; I can get up to around 48 hours without charging with occasional use (checking notifications and a little bit of social media on it every now and then). I nicknamed it "The Brick" because it looks like a brick...and feels like a brick. - I opened the camera application and prepared it to record a video.

As I was prepping for recording, both Greninja and Lucario were having a last-minute conversation.

"[If anything bad happens to the both of us, just know that we have Simon to help us,]" Greninja said.

"Yeah I know, it is proven," Lucario replied, "If any of us are in bad shape, we can simply enter our Poké Balls and have him do the rest. I will never understand how we are recovering outside of a Pokémon Center."

"[So do you want to take it nice and easy, or do you want to go all out?]"

"I think we should take it slow first, then go all out."

"[Okay, fair enough. Let's do it!]" They both fist bumped, and then they went to the far ends of the field.

"Oh man, here we go," I said as I pressed the record button on my phone, and the phone started to capture a video.

I have always loved watching Pokémon battles. Whenever I have free time, I would be at home watching the anime, sometimes repeating my favorite episodes from the XYZ series (because that is my favorite series and the generation I started the games in). Sure, the anime is cheesy most of the time, but let's face it...it's a kids show. Most of the anime is centered around what seems to be a forever 10-year-old kid by the name of Ash Ketchum after all. But anyway, what I'm hyped for is to see a battle IN REAL LIFE. It will look totally different when compared to watching a battle in the anime. There would be water everywhere because of Greninja. There would be a lot of "bullet holes" on the ground from the projectiles from both him and Lucario. There would be a few loud noises from physical contact between the two monsters. There is a chance that I could die from a projectile. There is just so much that would happen within the next five minutes or so. In any case, I am ready for everything. I will be the first person to ever witness a real Pokémon battle!

I focused the camera on Greninja, who is already on his ninjutsu pose. Before a battle, he would always do this, standing on one leg and having his hands together, with two out of three of his fingers on one hand wrapped around his other hand. He has his eyes closed, and he was thinking to himself, "(All my life, I've been training myself to be the very best Greninja I could be. From my birth as a Froakie, throughout my evolution to Frogadier and finally the evolution to who I am now, I've learned a lot growing up with my master Simon. Because of me, along with the help of Lucario, I helped Simon become who he is, and that's why I exist. I am the reason why he has earned all badges to participate in the Pokémon League in Kalos. I am the reason why we won the League. I am the reason why Simon is still alive. If it weren't for each other, we wouldn't be who we are today. Now, I am here, in this completely new world, without my master. You have taught me well, and I will be applying my techniques learned in previous battles for this battle. May Arceus watch over me as I find ways to defeat Lucario in this match.)"

After Greninja, I pointed the camera on Lucario next, who is standing tall, head down and his eyes half-closed, his paws on his sides. He was clearing his mind free from anything that would interfere with his battle performance. He also thought to himself, "(Ever since I met my master, I discovered my hidden potentials, and I have been using those in the previous battles in Kalos. They have proven me well because I was able to conquer some of the hardest enemies with them. And if it was not for Simon, I would not be who I am nor where I am. I am one who believes someone must never hesitate to do whatever it takes to win a battle. More importantly, the trust between trainer and Pokémon must be well established, and I saw that happen between me and him. Because of him, I was able to mega-evolve. Because of him, I was able to do more things I would not have done under Korrina's care. … Arceus, bless us with your gifts of power for use in battle, and may you keep all of us, especially Simon, our guardian, safe from trouble.)"

I panned the phone to fit the two Pokémon in the frame. There was silence for a minute.

…

Then I heard a growl from Lucario. " _Are you ready, partner!?"_

"[I will not hold back!]" Greninja exclaimed. Immediately, he jumped several tens of feet into the air thanks to his strong and powerful frog legs. I was blown away by how high he was! Then I could see him slapping his thighs, followed by him throwing two projectiles made of water. It appears he was using Water Shuriken, his signature move.

Lucario prepared for his defense. He put his two paws together and spread them out to form a bright beam. Then he held the beam on one end with both paws together as of he was holding a sword. The beam appeared to be the shape of a bone, about three feet in length. When Lucario saw the two projectiles of water coming directly at him, he positioned his paws to the center of the bone and started spinning it. He was using Bone Rush to defend himself from the shurikens. The two shurikens struck the bone, resulting in two loud sounds resembling a gunshot hitting a wall.

"Oh my f****** God!" I said out loud. I could not believe my eyes and ears!

Greninja landed back down on the ground. Lucario, still holding his bone, rushed forward towards him. He can run really fast, but not as fast as Greninja. He used Bone Rush again, but this time to attack. He swung at Greninja, but Greninja jumped again, making Lucario's bone hit the ground. The sound of the bone impact was also very loud due to the bone's velocity when it hit the ground.

Greninja, still in the air, turned himself around and used Water Shuriken again. Once again, he slapped his thighs and threw two pieces of water blades at Lucario. Lucario turned around to find Greninja, but he did not notice the shurikens coming at him. The shurikens hit the ground about a foot away from Lucario. Plumes of dust rose from the ground covering Lucario. "Arrrgh!" he grunted.

Greninja landed back on the ground, then he struck a battle pose. "[Well?]" he croaked.

"I am just getting warmed up!" Lucario exclaimed.

"Oh God, guys, this is intense right here," I said talking at the recording. "My first Pokémon battle spectacular."

Both monsters were now having a stare off. This continued for about thirty seconds. Then Greninja said, "[Lucario, you make the next move.]"

Lucario formed his bone again to use Bone Rush. He rushed forward like last time, but he had a different strategy. He rushed close to Greninja, which results in Greninja jumping once more. However, he stopped short of him. His bone vanished, and then he held both of his paws out towards Greninja. "(Uh oh, is he about to use Aura Sphere?)" I thought. Then suddenly, a bright, white ball of light appeared in front of his paws and grew bigger for a second, then a bright, white beam appeared connecting from Lucario to Greninja in a split second. Lucario has used Flash Cannon.

Since Greninja was in the air, he had little control over moving himself. The light energy from Lucario hit him and caused damage. It caused little pain to Greninja because of the fact that Flash Cannon is a Steel-type move, and due to his Water-type nature, it deals half of the usual damage to him. "Whoa!" I reacted to this sight. Then, after Greninja landed on the ground, I saw a field of blue light flowing down from top to bottom on Greninja. "Wait a second, that means one of his stats has decreased," I said to myself. Indeed, Flash Cannon has a chance of lowering a target's Special Defense stat.

"[That was a good hit, mate,]" Greninja said.

"Even though I am aware that Steel-type moves are not as effective against Water-type, I wanted to start off light," Lucario replied.

"[Now that's funny, you just made a pun. How does that make you feel?]" Greninja made a slight smile.

Lucario realized this. "You know what, I do not even give a damn anymore."

"[So what's next?]"

"Hmm," Lucario thought on what to do next. Then he said, "You go."

"[Okay then,]" Greninja responded. He thought for a few seconds. Then he folded his arms together to form an X as if he was shielding himself. Out of his fists came bright white beams shaped like kunai. Then he walked forward, allowing Lucario an opportunity to decide on something.

Lucario knew he was about to use the move Cut, a Normal-type move that is not very effective against Fighting-type Pokémon like him. "So, you want to go hand on hand? Alright then." He formed his bone again.

Greninja saw the bone, then he dashed forward. Lucario, already prepared to match his attacks, spun his bone and allowed Greninja to make his first move. In under a second, Greninja arrived at Lucario and delivered the first strike by slashing with one of his kunai. Lucario blocked it, but due to Greninja's velocity striking his bone, he was sent sliding back, and Greninja was staying in place, as if a cue ball hit the 8-ball and the cue ball stay put.

Lucario then rushed to Greninja after he stopped sliding on the dirt, and he swung his bone at him at a repeating fashion. Greninja countered his throws with his kunai, and the physical contact between him and Lucario lasted for about half a minute until he manages to strike a blow. Lucario was knocked back a few feet from Greninja due to the hit, and his bone disappeared. Now, both Pokémon are about even in health points.

"Nice one, we're equal. So how about we turn up the heat?" Lucario asked.

"[I'm as ready as I'll ever be, Lucario!]" Greninja replied with determination.

At this point, I have enough video footage of both of them fighting against each other. I stopped the camera recording and put my phone away into my pocket. "Hey guys," I shouted. Both creatures looked at me. "Impress me. You both can do this!" I raised my hands open into the air. They nodded in response, then turned towards each other. Both of them were planning their next moves.

Only two of Greninja's moves have regular damaging effects towards Lucario: Water- and Flying-type (Water Shuriken and Aerial Ace, respectively); the rest are not very effective (Cut and Dark Pulse). On the other hand, Lucario can deal double the damage on Greninja with his Fighting-type moves (Aura Sphere and Power-Up Punch); his Ground-type move (Bone Rush) deals normal damage, and his Steel-type move (Flash Cannon) is not very effective against him. Therefore, technically speaking, Lucario has a moveset advantage over Greninja.

"(Okay,)" Greninja thought, "(I have only two moves that are effective against Lucario. I just need to strategize by myself on how I will make them work better than just using those moves on him. I have a feeling he will be using his Aura Sphere at some point. I know he will not use Power-Up Punch because that is devastating to me, and he knows that from what happened to me in the past training. If using Aura Sphere is the case, I can counter that with either my Cut, Water Shuriken or Aerial Ace.)"

Meanwhile, on Lucario's mind, "(So I have little options. I have trained with Greninja so much in the past that I already know what is going to happen with some of my moves. I know I cannot use Power-Up Punch because that is pure savage. I have no issues with using Aura Sphere as long as my partner can deflect it; he has done this in previous training. If I use Bone Rush again, he will not hesitate to use Cut again. There is also a chance he can use Aerial Ace against that. If he does, when he hits my bone, it will shatter and will possibly cause damage to me,)" Flying-type wins over Ground-type, "(I have to be careful with what I choose to do. Simon would trust me to come up with the best strategy.)

"Okay, Greninja! Here is your next obstacle," Lucario barked. He positioned his paws to the right of his waist with his palms facing each other. In-between his paws, there was circulating energy that was visible, and it steadily grew into a bright blue ball. In a matter of a few seconds, the ball was expanding to about ten inches in diameter.

"[Aura Sphere, just as I had predicted,]" Greninja said to himself. To counter Lucario moves, he decided to use Water Shuriken. This time, instead of using two small shurikens, he put both hands together at his right side. Between his palms was a growing shuriken which grew to about the same size as Lucario's Aura Sphere. Once the shuriken had been formed, he threw it with his left hand as if he was throwing a frisbee.

The shuriken was spinning with such velocity that it could slice through metal. Right after it was thrown, Lucario also threw his Aura Sphere, pushing it with both of his paws towards Greninja, using his strength to push the energy ball up to speed. Both projectiles were now coming at each other at high speed. In less than a second, they both collided into an explosion, which sounded like a grenade. The collision caused a bright flash of light and a shockwave that caused particles of dirt below to be sent flying around the vicinity of the explosion. I felt the wave of little dust pebbles hitting my face, with some entering my mouth which was open, and even though I was wearing wraparound glasses, the particles were small enough to enter my eye area from the bottom of them. I raised an arm to cover my face, and I instinctively closed my eyes after a few particles went through.

"Holy s***!" I exclaimed to myself, and then I started spitting. Then I took off my glasses to wipe off any dirt away from my eyelids. I had never been near an actual explosion before. There wasn't a simple way to describe this experience.

Greninja and Lucario halted to see me. Then Lucario asked, "Are you okay, Simon?"

"Yeah," I replied, still cleaning my eye area with only my hands. "Wooooaaah! I have not experienced anything like this, it's so epic."

"The battle is not over yet," Lucario said. Greninja stared back at him to stay on his own guard in case he throws a surprise attack.

"Right, continue. I wanna see more!" I said, feeling better to watch the rest of the battle. "(I should prepare myself for situations like what happened just now. I'm actually a little nervous now that I'm danger close.)"

Lucario wanted to check on me using Aura, but he knew Greninja would make a move on him if he did. So he returned his focus. "Okay, Greninja, it is your turn to make another move."

"[Let's go back to physical moves]," he replied. "[I will use Aerial Ace!]"

"Give me your all!" Lucario barked. He prepared Bone Rush, even though Greninja's move will have a big advantage.

Greninja charged forward then jumped using little force on the ground, and then his arms and legs glowed. Lucario spun his bone with both of his paws then set himself up for a counter. He stood there until Greninja got closer. The distance between the two had decreased until Greninja was a couple yards in front of him. Then, he stepped to the side to have Greninja miss him. Once Greninja passed him, sliding on the ground after landing, Lucario turned around and charged at him. He slashed his bone on Greninja, and it hit successfully.

"[Aaargh!]" Greninja yelled as he hit the ground and slid for some distance. His health points decreased to less than half-full.

I gasped and put my hands on both sides of my head. "(Oh no, is he alright?!)" Worried thoughts started generating in my head after witnessing my all-time favorite Pokémon get hit.

Lucario walked up to Greninja and asked him, "Are you all right, partner?"

Greninja slowly got up from the ground and replied, "[Yeah, I'm fine. You got me.]"

"Whew, he'll be fine," I sighed after I saw him get up under his own energy, filling me with confidence.

Suddenly, Greninja turned around and struck Lucario with his arm, which was glowing. Lucario was knocked back quite a distance. "Grrrrrr," he said, feeling pain. His health points were now at about less than half of maximum.

"Oh my God!" I said in amazement. "What a surprise!"

"Nice one, mate," Lucario said and smiled.

"[Thanks,]" Greninja replied.

"Hey guys," I said out loud. "Come over here!"

Greninja and Lucario both glanced at each other for a few seconds, then proceeded towards me.

"I... I have no words...to describe what I just saw," I was trembling, "But I do wanna say that..." I paused.

Lucario noticed my trembling, and he had to check on my Aura. "Simon, you are worried about something. Please tell us."

I knew that was going to happen. How else could I have hidden myself? "I'm just worried about how well you guys will fare into this world. After seeing the powerful moves you all have, I just don't want an innocent to be harmed. As far as I can tell, someone will literally be killed in one swing of a bone or a shuriken...or ANYTHING for that matter!" I said this with the most serious-looking face I can possibly make.

"[I mean it's not like we harm humans for pleasure...]" Greninja said.

"No," Lucario replied, "Simon has a point. If we use a move against the humans in this world, it may have a devastating result. I believe it. We are at a high enough level that if we do not control our power, someone will be killed. Now if it is a lower level Pokémon, it can be mitigated."

"[You're right...]"

"I do agree with you that we are not Pokémon that simply harm humans for fun. For Arceus' sake, we respect humans." Lucario put both paws on my shoulders, "Simon, this is your world. We will follow you wherever you go. Somehow, our lives depend on you now. And if there is anybody out there that will try to harm you, we can protect you upon your request."

I could tell in his eyes that he really means it. "Thank you, Lucario. I appreciate it, and I promise to you, and Greninja as well, that I will do my best to guide you through planet Earth and show you how everything here works." I teared up a little bit. "I will enforce the fact that you two must not use moves unless I tell you to. I will also have to test how much power you really need for all of your moves in case you end up using them on people. I am willing to sacrifice myself for that, but as much as possible I don't wanna die, nor does anyone here."

"We both understand," Lucario replied. Greninja nodded and raised a fist.

"Okay, I think this is a good time to stop. I can see that you two look a little beat up." I recommended. They agreed. "Here, drink up." I reached into my backpack for two Gatorade bottles, and then I gave one to them.

After drinking the Gatorade, Lucario commented, "This does actually taste better after some action."

"Yeah, and this stuff works!" I exclaimed.

Sunday, 5 January 2020 15:15

"Okay, everyone back inside!" I commanded as I held both Poké balls towards the two monsters. Streams of red light covered Greninja and Lucario, and both were sucked into the ball.

I took my Nintendo 3DS from inside my backpack, booted up the Pokémon X game, and loaded my profile. I put one of the spheres on top of the bottom screen, and the turquoise magic occurred. The healing sound from the game played through the system's speakers. Then I moved the restored Pokémon out and put the other on the screen. The same magic occurred.

Once Greninja and Lucario were healed, I told them to come out. Both balls opened and out came blue light. They formed into actual beings, and once the transformation process completed, both of the living creatures took a deep breath. They appear to be relieved of their conditions successfully.

"[I still find it weird to be able to recover with Simon's device,]" Greninja pointed out.

"It will forever be a mystery, Greninja," Lucario responded.

The winds suddenly picked up, and I could feel the sudden drop of temperatures from the wind chill. "Whoa, there it is," I said, "It's getting cold. We all should get going."

"Right behind you, Simon," Lucario said.

I packed my backpack and secured it, then we walked back to the car.


	8. More Earth Food and Knowledge

**Chapter 8: More Earth Food and Knowledge**

In-N-Out Burger, Tropicana Avenue Location

Las Vegas, NV, United States

Sunday, 5 January 2020 16:15

During the car ride home, Greninja, Lucario, and I were mostly quiet. However, we were all hungry. I decided to stop by a fast food place to gather something for myself, and I also planned to go to a superstore to buy fruit or vegetables (or anything healthy) for the Pokémon in case they couldn't eat meat.

The place I was craving for was In-N-Out Burger, a very popular fast food place around the western United States. As I pulled into the parking lot, I told the monsters, "So this is In-N-Out, probably the most popular fast food chain around town. I'm gonna buy a burger in there." Looking through the windows of the building from my car, I saw quite a lot of people inside, but not enough to be completely full. The drive-thru lane, however, is completely full...as it was always the case every day at this location. "Looking at the popularity at this hour, it may take me more or less 20 minutes. I may buy a few burgers, if one of you wants to give them a try."

Lucario is normally against eating meat, but if he has nothing else to eat, he has no other choice. All he knew was that he wanted something to fill his stomach. "Okay, Simon. I'll have one. Partner, what about you?"

Greninja nodded, "[I grew accustomed to human food a while back.]"

"Okay, maybe I will grab three then," I replied. "Stay here, and try not to be seen. These windows should be tinted well enough for all of you to be hidden. But in any case, I don't recommend moving a bunch."

"Understood," Lucario responded.

I disembarked my Jaguar and proceeded inside. Once I arrived at the cash register a few minutes later, I placed my order, "Hi, I will take three orders of Number 1, please. Oh, and for one of those, I would like it without onions and tomatoes," I told the cashier. Number 1 is an order combination consisting of a double cheeseburger, known as the "Double-Double", with a side of french fries and a medium-sized drink. The total amount paid came out to be $25.58 plus tax. Each order was worth $7.75 , quite cheap for an entire combination. Other fast food places are slightly more expensive, sometimes going over $10.00 , which is above the minimum wage here in the state of Nevada (about $9.00 ).

"Can I also get a drink carrier, please?" I asked.

The cashier gave me a chuckle, "I was just about to ask you that! Of course, sir."

"Thanks," I replied.

After receiving the drink carrier and the three cups, I filled one of them up with Root Beer, my all-time favorite soda drink. I filled the remaining two cups with water since I thought they may not tolerate carbonated drinks.

Back outside, Greninja and Lucario were patiently waiting for me to grab the food. As they waited, a family with two kids walked past the car. Lucario turned to observe the family. One kid is 10 years old; another is 6.

"Mommy, can I get a milkshake, please?" the 6-year-old asked.

"Yes, as long as you finish your food first, okay?" the mother replied.

"Yay!" the kid reacted, jumping for joy.

Lucario then turned his attention to the 10-year-old, who was holding a Nintendo Switch. On the switch was another Pokémon game. Lucario tapped into his aura, and became surprised by what he was observing. The kid was feeling anxious to catch a shiny Pokémon in the game, "If I don't catch this shiny Pawniard, it's gonna take forever!"

"(Hmm, a Pawniard. I remember seeing one of those,)" Lucario thought to himself. "(But this kid knows Pokémon. I guess Simon is correct about this world having knowledge about Pokémon.)"

Then the kid exclaimed, "Doh, man! It got away!"

Lucario stopped observing the kid, "Is this what humans in this world do all the time?"

Greninja turned to him and asked, "[What is it]?"

"That kid over there must be playing a game related to Pokémon."

"[It's an interesting world,]" Greninja said, "[But I wouldn't jump into the conclusion that everyone here knows about Pokémon.]"

"You're right." Lucario's personality shows this.

Back inside, later, after I received the burgers and fries (each in separate paper bags) I went out the doors and got back into my car. I put both the bag containing fries and the drink carrier on the floor of the passenger side, then I closed the driver's side door and locked the entire car. I reached into the bag which contained all of the burgers, grabbed one of them out, one of two with the standard vegetables, and held it at Lucario.

Lucario grabbed the burger and glanced at it. The smell of the burger immediately came to his senses. It was a strong, appealing scent that it made his hunger stronger and his mouth water. He observed the paper wrapping around half of the burger, noticing the words on the paper that he can barely read. "Do they always wrap these?"

"Yeah, it's traditional for them to do," I replied, "This burger company has been around for...maybe five decades now? Equivalent to 50 years if you do not understand that term. They change so little with what they do."

Lucario unwrapped the burger, stared at it, and then he looked at Greninja.

"[Worth a try. It does smell good,]" Greninja said.

Lucario looked back at the burger for a few seconds. He tried not to think about it being made from another creature. Then he went for a bite and chewed away.

"Well?" I asked.

Delicious and juicy. He never thought Earth food could taste this good. He took a second bite, this time a bit larger, chewing more. Then he finished the rest of the burger on the final bite.

"[Wow! It seems that you're liking it,]" Greninja said.

Lucario swallowed after chewing the burger, then he said in reply, "Greninja, I think this was the best meal I have ever eaten in a long time. You should try it next."

I reached into the bag for the second complete burger. Then I gave it to Greninja. He unwrapped the paper off of it and took a small bite. After swallowing, he said, "[Good!]" Lucario forwarded his reaction to me.

"I'm glad, you guys," I reacted with delight, "In-N-Out is always a good place to eat once in a while. Let's head home...I mean, I'll drive home. You can finish the burger while we're on the way Greninja, if you want." I did think about stopping by Walmart for the healthy foods, but I changed my mind.

"[Why don't you eat yours, Simon?]" Greninja asked. Lucario repeated this to me.

"Oh, I prefer to eat at home, and...I kinda want to be home about now. My house is just five minutes away from here," I replied. I was sure both Pokémon would feel the same way.

Greninja continued eating the burger with small bites since he was hungry. He managed to finish it for the entire drive home.

Simon's Home

Las Vegas, NV, United States

Sunday, 5 January 2020 16:45

Once we reached the house, I put the bag of fries and the other bag containing my burger on the dining table. I also turned on the overhead lights via a switch on the wall near me. "Hey, guys," I said to the monsters, "bring your trash to the bin under my kitchen sink over there, the left hand side cabinet." I pointed to the location for them.

"Okay," Lucario replied. He went to the cabinet, opened it, and threw the paper wrap into the garbage bin. Greninja followed and did the same, and he closed the cabinet afterwards.

I went towards the kitchen sink to retrieve a plate for my meal, walked back to the dining table, set the plate down, and sat on the chair. "Oh," I realized, "Can one of you run back to my car and retrieve the drink carrier containing the three drinks?"

"[I'll do it,]" Greninja said, turning around back towards the door to the garage.

"Thanks, Greninja," I said, "The car should be unlocked still."

Lucario took a seat next to me to my right on another chair. I reached for both bags and retrieved one burger from the one bag and the fries from the other. I put the food onto my plate. Then I grabbed one fry and showed it to Lucario. "Wanna try?"

Lucario took the fry and bit it, then he finished the rest of it. "It is highly unusual of us monsters to be eating food like these."

"Well, it is better than eating nothing in this universe," I replied, "I am surprised, you guys were able to eat burgers." Greninja returned with the drink carrier containing the three drinks. "Awesome, thank you!" I praised him, and then I gave the water cups to both him and Lucario. Greninja took a seat next to me on the left. I took my cup filled with Root Beer, opened the lid, and took a swig. "I think I read somewhere that Pokémon are able to consume human food without any issues, and from what I witnessed today you guys proved it. I mean, how do you guys feel after eating?"

"Me...I feel perfectly fine," Lucario responded. He took a sip of his water and then asked, "What about you Greninja?"

Greninja took a sip of his water and then nodded.

"Well there we have it. You can pretty much eat anything you enjoy eating out of my storage units," I said, "I think that also includes drinks. Though I think giving you guys soda may be a bad idea."

"What is a 'soda'?" Lucario questioned.

I paused for a moment. Then I replied, "Soda is a carbonated drink as we call it. Think of it this way: bubbly water with flavoring...more on the acid side, but safe enough for us to consume...as long as we don't consume more than we are able to. It's dangerous for animals as far as I am concerned; it's high in sugar content. I'm sure that will also apply to you guys."

Both monsters listened and took note mentally of what I was saying.

"You can't go wrong with water. I mean, it's the most important survival thing to have. Especially during the summer at this location, oh man, it gets hot as hell around here!"

"[Not going to be very effective against someone like me,]" Greninja said.

Lucario facepalmed and shook his head, "Oh dear..." he relayed it to me.

I gave Greninja a poker face, and he stared back. "Totally!" And then I laughed. "I mean, you're not wrong. But seriously though, summer can be dangerous if precautionary measures aren't taken. It's not a desert out here, but THE desert."

"I remember from looking out the window in your bedroom," Lucario mentioned, "All of those human-made structures surrounded by pale-looking mountains covered in snow, knowing it is currently winter time in the desert."

"Great observation, Lucario," I complimented him, "And there are more deserts out there, some that are more dangerous than here. I don't know if you guys will be around to see it."

"I can imagine, "Lucario replied, "Me and Greninja have been through many kinds of environments. Kalos has them all: forests, mountains, deserts, cities, you name it. This world is about the same as ours."

"I guess," I replied as I made a thinking gesture by putting my right elbow to rest on the table and holding my head up with my hand. I remember how Kalos looked in the game Pokémon X. The silhouette of the region is shaped to resemble France, and in the game there were definitely many touches of French as well as similar representations to landmarks in the European continent today. "Man, I kind of miss Europe."

"Europe?" Lucario questioned.

"Oh, a continent from across the Atlantic Ocean to the east," I said, "I traveled over there as a graduation gift from my parents. The landscape at many different countries in Europe is so beautiful, more beautiful than America in my opinion." I didn't want to mention France in comparison to Kalos.

"Sounds like another place we may not see during our time here," Lucario said.

"You know, if you're looking for adventures, you guys should stay here for a while and explore," I recommended, "Honestly, I prefer the outdoors more than indoors. It's just that living in a city like this is tiring. Crime rates have been at an all-time high lately, and I don't feel safe here anymore. Reminds me of the time I left for college, I was very, very happy I left."

Lucario stared at me in silence.

I looked at him. "What?" I asked. Then I realized, "Oh, your trainer..."

Lucario spoke, "Yes, we are hoping we get back to him, but let us not talk about that right at this moment. I am taking in information about your life. It is nice to know more about a human's life. Not like we are creeping you out or anything like that."

I looked at Greninja, and he nodded from Lucario's statement. Then I said, "Oh, well that's awesome. I like to talk to people about anything that interests me, and finding out if they share similar interests. It's a good thing for sure. But yeah, I enjoyed my college years. I met amazing people along the way." I paused, having flashbacks to that time frame.

"[Tell us more, Simon,]" Greninja spoke. Lucario relayed the message, sensing my state of mind.

"Oh, let's talk about that at another time...I want to take a nap for a bit," I replied, yawning midway through my sentence.

"Okay," Lucario said, "You did a lot today, I thank you for everything that you did for both of us today." He gave me a pat on my shoulder.

"Oh, it's for the best for you guys," I responded, giving him a pat on his shoulder as well. I stood up and walked over to Greninja to give him a pat as well. He patted my back as well. "If you guys need anything, I will be upstairs. Don't hesitate to wake me up." Then I made my way to my bedroom.

"[Will do,]" Greninja croaked.

A few minutes have passed. Then both monsters stood up, made their way to the couch, and sat down.

"[Lucario, he's a nice boy,]" Greninja said, "[Do you think so too?]"

Lucario sighed in comfort, "Yes, I think so."

"[It's great to be in good hands of a person that really cares for us. I don't know what you saw in him, but he's like our master. I can see in him that he cares for his people.]"

"I want to return him my gratitude," Lucario said with thought, "Since it seems that he likes the outdoors, why do not we encourage him to travel so that we can see the world? By the way he acts, I can tell he is the type of person that needs some attention. As much as I want to go back, I want to explore more; I think I am feeling ready for another adventure."

Greninja thought for a bit, then he said, "[Me too.]"

"We will first find out more about his life, after he wakes up."

"[It seems he's an only child, don't you think?]"

Lucario thought for a moment, "I think so. But we will find out eventually. Let us make this happen, shall we?" He lifted his paw to do a fist bump with Greninja.

"[Gladly,]" he replied, forming a fist with his hand and bumping Lucario's paw.

Meanwhile, I was laying in bed in my room. Thoughts came flowing through my head like crazy. (Jeez, I did quite a lot today. I enjoy hanging out with these guys. I...I feel like I'm their caretaker now. Should I continue to give them my support? I mean, I should if I'm trying to get them back home. Oh well, time will tell. … Oh s**t, I forgot to buy the fruit. Ah, whatever. That will be for later.) Then I closed my eyes and tried to relax for my nap.

What will be in store for the week?


End file.
